Fun fact, public money and outrage: The Mayor of Athens will spend 217.000 euros for a 17 minutes long New Year Eve gig by Greek singer Sakis Rouvas.The event will take place without audience and in the parking area of Lycabettus hill off the center of the city.
The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, and the grandiose event reportedly includes the setting up of a stage with velvet curtains, crystal chandeliers and hundreds of festive lights.
The municipality refuses to give any explanations about this amount and what will be the salary of the popular artist.
The announcement of the gig and the high amount of public money to be spent has triggered an outrage on social media, as expected.
Dozens of Greek internet users slam the mayor for “waste of public money” for a gig without audience, while citizens in the Greek capital are having difficult times due to high energy and food prices, so many people in need on the streets and thus amid an ongoing pandemic.
“That’s what an ICU doctor earns in ten years,” wrote a unionists doctors at a public hospital in Athens, while another noted “that’s the money for 700,000 masks KN95.”
Others bitterly attack the habit to waste public money by the so-called “Holy Family” of the Greek politics as the mayor is the nephew of PM Mitsotakis and son of ND MP and ex FM Bakoyiannis.
In the end, also the former pop star, 49-year-old Sakis Rouvas, became the target of mocking comments due to his affiliation with the conservative government of New Democracy.
“Mick Jagger earns less than Sakis Rouvas per second,” some Greek noted on Twitter saying Jagger earns $1.85 but Rouvas 213 euros.
Another proposed that the mayor should put Rouvas “on a cart and carry him around through the streets of Athens, while people will throw 2-euro coins.”
Trending hashtags: #μπακογιαννης, #Ρουβας
Meanwhile, many Greeks suggest that the event will be cancelled due to social pressure.