To the warm applause of the MPs, the Prime Minister’s nominee for the office of President of the Hellenic Republic, Kostas Tasoulas,
announced his resignation from the post of MP for Ioannina and Speaker of the Parliament.

“I have decided, for reasons of institutional propriety, today, when the plenum is meeting until late afternoon, to submit my resignation as Speaker of the Parliament and as a deputy of Ioannina after 25 years of service, for which I would like to express my gratitude to my compatriots,” Mr. Tasoulas said shortly after 1 p.m.

The outgoing president of the Greek parliament thanked for the cooperation of all MPs, from 2000, when he was first elected, until today.

As he left, he added, “Let me remind you that of course there are contradictions. Of course, there are ambitions, of course, there are contradictions. These things do not end. This is how democracy proceeds. This is how life goes on. But do not ignore, ladies and gentlemen, that beyond the contradictions, beyond the ambitions, beyond the counter-conflicts, beyond the need to affirm ourselves, beyond the need to win, beyond the need to defeat the opponent, there is an invisible thread that unites us: Which when it becomes visible, much more so when we shine a light on it, this thread takes our country forward, or this thread, our country is held back from ruin,” Tasoulas stressed and continued: “This invisible thread to which the progress of Greece is due, without condemning everything else, this invisible thread, is what unites us. It is national unity, it is the origin, it is the present, and it is our prospects. We must guard this invisible thread like the apple of our eye.”

And yes, keep arguing, he told the MPs: “Continue to have ambition, continue to have objections to raise them, but for God’s sake, this invisible thread, now and then make it visible and illuminate it. So that the Greek people can hold on to this thread, just as Theseus grasped the mite and came out of Labyrinth.”

In conclusion, he said: “During these years “I have experienced the praise of the municipality and the sophists. The hard and the priceless praise” that you too are experiencing. But now “as one long prepared, as one courageous,” responding to the high honor, I place myself at your disposal for some other important national mission. My resignation will be at the disposal of the Speaker later, and if you will allow me one last plea, keep it protected and bring out the invisible thread that unites us.”