Adonis Georgiadis and Elena Akrita clash over Madonna Corfu visit and Greek healthcare

Clashing views on celebrity tourism

The confrontation began after reports indicated that residents in the Corfu village of Kouramades were asked to keep their windows shut during a birthday dinner held for pop singer Madonna to protect her privacy. Elena Akrita, a member of parliament representing the main left-wing opposition party SYRIZA, condemned the incident on social media and criticized Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for greeting the visit warmly rather than addressing local disruption. Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis replied directly to Akrita, describing her as an ultra-rich individual detached from the working population. Georgiadis defended the singer's presence, asserting that celebrity visits deliver free publicity that generates jobs across the domestic tourism sector.

In reality she offered us free advertising worth millions of euros and next year people here in Greece will find work because this famous star came here. And instead of being glad about all this, like every reasonable person, she found a reason to whine, to act miserable and to accuse.

Scrutiny of healthcare administration

Akrita responded with a detailed public statement turning the argument toward Georgiadis's performance at the Ministry of Health. She focused on the lack of a working digital mammography system at Nikaia General Hospital, noting that she had pressed the government on the issue in parliament for three years while female cancer patients continued to endure hardship. Akrita also raised broader grievances over conditions in public hospitals throughout Greece, accusing the minister of engaging in social media feuds rather than fixing institutional shortcomings. She broadened her critique to past political controversies, citing his prior sales of books written by Konstantinos Plevris, and warned that her parliamentary oversight would continue as long as he held office.

Go fix the digital mammography machine down in Nikaia where I have been chasing you in parliament for three years and female cancer patients wear down their shoe soles to get a mammogram.

Personal retorts and parliamentary duties

The exchange grew sharper when Akrita corrected Georgiadis's spelling of the Greek word for ultra-wealthy and brought his wife, Eugenia Manolidou, into the discussion by mocking her teaching background. Georgiadis issued an itemized reply attacking the SYRIZA lawmaker for targeting his spouse. He noted that Akrita serves as SYRIZA's parliamentary shadow secretary for rights and equality, arguing that involving an uninvolved family member exposed hypocrisy in the opposition party's stated opposition to sexist stereotypes and patriarchy. He told Akrita that any grievances concerning Manolidou should be addressed to his wife directly rather than used as a political weapon against him.

The fact that a left-wing MP and shadow minister of rights and equality of the SYRIZA-PS parliamentary group, in order to strike at me politically, dragged in my wife who did nothing to her, shows the scale of her hypocrisy and that of SYRIZA.