New SYRIZA leader Kasselakis addresses party MPs for the first time on Thursday

Newly elected SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Stefanos Kasselakis called for “unity, proposals, and action” when he addressed the party’s parliamentary group for the first time on Thursday.

Kasselakis spoke of a political struggle to be carried out in a spirit of unity, solidarity, pursued collectively and in a democratic manner. Syriza has a set of complete, implementable proposals that are based on people’s needs, the main opposition leader said, while charging the government with having exhibited nothing but arrogance during its tenure.

He also pointed out that he recognizes the responsibilities and obligations before Greece and the party members in his new position, including “serving the ideas and principels of the Left, of the progressive and democratic world.”

The new party leader strongly condemned Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for “no knowing how the 500 million euros allocated to antiflooding projects after Ianos were ‘gobbled up,” after the storm in 2020, while he called on the PM to bring the issues of the equality in marriage for gay couples to Parliament.

After mentioning the 2022 wiretapping scandal and the government’s handling of it, Kasselakis underlined that when Syriza becomes government again, the judicial system and its officials “will never have to endure [political] pressure or influence,” and that Syriza will provide them with “undivided support, both practical and institutional, to serve their roles uninterrupted.”