Kammenos to be summoned over botched Saudi arms sale

Leftist deputies on Thursday blocked another request from New Democracy and other opposition parties for government ministers and other officials to appear before Parliament’s Institutions and Transparency Committee to respond to questions about the botched sale of ammunition to Saudi Arabia.

After a tumultuous session, chaired by SYRIZA lawmaker Anastasia Christodoulopoulou, it was decided that only Defense Minister Panos Kammenos will be summoned, but no date was set for the hearing.

Christodoulopoulou called for a new meeting to decide whether Kammenos should be summoned before or after Turkey’s snap elections on June 24, to ostensibly avoid deflecting public attention from more pressing national security issues.

The opposition has accused Kammenos of trying to involve a middleman in a deal that the Saudis wanted to negotiate directly with Athens. Opposition MPs walked out, accusing SYRIZA of staging a “parliamentary coup.”