The digital policy and media ministry accepted on Wednesday the resignation of Professor Stamatios Krimigis as board chairman of the newly formed Hellenic Space Organisation, less than a month after his appointment was announced in March. It announced that Krimigis will be replaced by the former chairman of the European Satellite Operators Association (ESOA) Christodoulos Protopapas, while the agency’s board will be joined by the former head of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the European Space Agency (ESA), Constantinos Stavrinidis.
Krimigis had announced his resignation in an open letter that was highly critical of the ministry and accused senior ministry officials of a high-handed attitude and trying to dominate decisions without having the necessary knowledge or expertise.
While thanking the Greek-American space scientist for his contribution, the ministry expressed surprise at the speed with which Krimigis made his negative assessment and decided to pull out of the effort to set up a Greek space agency.
“We are surprised at the speed with which he managed, within four weeks, to evaluate and irrevocably judge the country’s effort to design and implement a coordinated national strategy in the sector of space. The initiative launched by the digital policy, telecommunications and media ministry continues. We will all be judged based on our choices,” the announcement said, noting that the success of the endeavour “cannot depend on individuals”.
