SYRIZA on the brink of civil war

SYRIZA, the main opposition party, has entered a fresh internal war as the circle of officials who question or criticize the decisions and action of its leader Stefanos Kasselakis’ is expanding and getting louder.

The growing discontent was manifested on Thursday by 87 prominent party members, who co-signed a text that, among other things, not only criticizes the party president, but also reiterates the issue of cooperation in the center-left, essentially calling for an appeal to the base through an internal party referendum in order to give a way out to “the members and friends of the party.”

Among these executives are seven of the 36 members of the parliamentary group, former ministers of governments of Kasselakis’ predecessor Alexis Tsipras, as well as officials who were close to the former prime minister.

Indicatively, these officials include Olga Gerovasili, Athena Linou, Katerina Notopoulou, Dionysis Kalamatianos, Christos Giannoulis, Miltos Zamparas, Andreas Panagiotopoulos, Costas Zachariadis, Giorgos Tsipras, Georgios Vasileiadis, Alekos Flambouraris, Yannis Ragousis, Christos Spirtzis, Maria Repoussi, Dimitris Chatzisokratis, Thanasis Theocharopoulos and Zanet Tsipra.

Circles close to the current leadership said in response that “SYRIZA and its president, Stefanos Kasselakis, have never been afraid of dialogue.”

“All opinions are welcome and of course respected,” they commented, taking swipes, however, at the 87 signatories to the text regarding their intentions to begin the public debate prematurely before the meeting of the Political Secretariat next Thursday and the Central Committee on Sunday, July 7.

“Despite the huge drop in the numbers of New Democracy, SYRIZA lost forces and the progressive space as a whole was not strengthened; on the contrary, we had record abstention and the rise of the far-right. The large social majority does not see an alternative progressive proposal for governance,” said the letter, addressed to Kasselakis and the secretary of the Central Committee, Rania Svigkou. 

“A coordinated debate is required in our party both on the election result and on the initiatives to be taken. The members and friends of the party must make the final decisions,” the letter’s signatories stressed, while also taking aim at Kasselakis’ attitude toward dissidents (“divisive tactics, dismissals and targeting of party members”). They also took issue with his references to “black money” in the party. “It is traumatizing for our party to suddenly open a debate on ethics and transparency in SYRIZA,” they said while also expressing their dismay over the closure of the SYRIZA-affiliated daily newspaper Avgi.

Source: ekathimerini.com//Giorgos Bourdaras