(Reuters) – The Greek government said on Saturday it had expelled former prime minister and lawmaker Antonis Samaras from the ruling New Democracy party’s parliamentary group over comments in a newspaper interview described as being against government policies.
The move cuts the number of government lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament to 155 seats.
In an interview published on Saturday by Greek newspaper VIMA, Samaras criticised the policies of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, especially regarding their freshly re-launched negotiations with Turkey on a number of outstanding issues.
He said the government “is starting a dialogue by stating in advance that it will make concessions from its initial positions”.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said Samaras in his interview did not express any views but rather his “complete disagreement with the entire government policy”.
“The government majority continues steadily on its course, without Mr. Samaras,” Marinakis said in the statement. “No one has the right to play with the stability of the country in these turbulent times.”
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by David Holmes)
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