The confidence vote procedure requested last week by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras began on Tuesday morning in the Greek parliament.

The first hours of the discussion featured a heated debate between the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition’s New Democracy Party, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Prime Minister Tsipras opened the parliamentary debate, which will conclude with the holding of a vote of confidence in his government on Wednesday night. In his remarks he stated, “Ten days from now, Greece will complete four years since the day of the great political change and the great overthrow of the old political system.

“January 25, 2015 signaled this great political overthrow; something that did not come out of the blue, but was the result of Greece’s biggest financial crisis of the past 100 years,’’ he noted.

Referring to the previous New Democracy (N.D.)/PASOK coalition government, Tsipras noted that “this year Greece will be a different country. A country of stability, with an upgraded role in the international community and our wider region.

“A country that finally leaves behind the social desolation caused by N.D. and PASOK in the period 2010-2015’’ Tsipras declared.

Responding to the prime minister’s remarks, N.D. leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke of a “staged divorce” between the two partners in the coalition government, which aims to extend SYRIZA’s term in power.

Mitsotakis also stated that SYRIZA intends to ratify the Prespa Agreement and help the Independent Greeks (ANEL) party retain its parliamentary group.

The N.D. leader also criticized Tsipras for choosing a serving senior military officer as the country’s new defense minister, noting that such a move was unprecedented and had never been taken by any previous government.

With information from A.M.N.A.