The irrefutable evidence that partisan competition has gone beyond the permissible limits is the targeting of the family and especially the children of opponents. I cannot think of many more despicable things in life than this.

I understand that competition, any competition, in any field of human endeavor, inevitably arouses passions and even hatreds. And I also understand that in politics these are further inflated due to the fact that they take place in the village square, in front of everyone.

However, I cannot accept that everything – principles, values and institutions, and even the families of politicians – can be sacrificed on the altar of political competition and political interest.

And this is all the more true when the children are innocent, when someone attacks them to get back at their parent for something s/he did against them.

Even the mafia honors the sanctuary of family – even the mafia.

As far as Biden’s son is concerned, the attacks on him are of an entirely different caliber. He is first of all, in middle age and is accused of taking advantage of his father’s position to do business.

You can’t compare one case to the other.

It is therefore obvious that the intense attacks being made on the Minister of Citizen Protection are aimed at preventing the ongoing purge of undesirable and unacceptable members of the police forces.

And they seem to believe that they will achieve this by neutralizing the Minister who is attempting the purge.

They don’t seem to know the Minister very well, nor the Prime Minister.

The recent revelations about alleged corruption among the police – i.e. the conversations of officers with nefarious elements revealed by the newspaper To Vima – are chilling. One refuses to accept that these things can happen in our Greece.

One would therefore expect that nothing would be more normal, more absolutely imperative, than what the Minister is doing.

And one would even expect that the opposition would also demand a clean-up.

They should do this not because some of the officers who were retired are necessarily directly involved with corruption, but because a clean-up requires a fresh start, with fresh faces.

That is what the Minister for Civil Protection has started to do – his duty.

And to stop him, they are attacking his family.

For these reasons, we owe him our full support. And we hope for him to be able to proceed with the clean-up in one of the nerve centers of the state – and to get the message out everywhere that the police are changing, that they are truly becoming the police force of a developed country.