Maria Karystianou may publicly claim that she doesn’t want contact with officials from other parties, but in SYRIZA there were the first serious problems from the moment the political flirtation between the president of the Tempe Victims’ Relatives Association and former SYRIZA MEP Nikolas Farantouris was confirmed.
Socrates Famellos was forced to expel his party’s MEP, as Nikolas Farantouris had been appearing, in his own way, as Maria Karystianou’s representative throughout the recent period, even implying that he might have a more active role in the future. On Tuesday evening, the SYRIZA president called Nikolas Farantouris and asked him to publicly clarify his intentions. According to SYRIZA officials, the MEP assured him that the next day (yesterday) he would make clear that he belongs to SYRIZA.
Instead of that statement, however, Nikolas Farantouris, speaking to PARAPOLITIKA, once again left open the possibility of joining Karystianou’s party, saying: “If I decide to follow a different path and make another choice, I will inform you (Socrates Famellos) and the Greek people accordingly, taking responsibility without circles, without leaks and without representatives.”
Koumoundourou circles stated that “SYRIZA and SYRIZA voters demand that the party’s MEPs represent them without conditions and without hidden agendas. Not to exploit their vote to go to other parties and to work with consistency and comradeship for the good of the party and society.”
Farantouris doesn’t hand over his seat to SYRIZA
After his expulsion, Nikolas Farantouris made clear that he won’t hand over his seat to SYRIZA, as, he said, it belongs to his voters, and added that “he practiced politics based on principles of justice and transparency. ‘Justice everywhere’ was the slogan with which I entered politics 2 years ago. And this I will continue to serve. Unfortunately, SYRIZA distanced itself from mass movements and demonizes anything that constitutes mass citizen mobilization. I will continue. For justice, transparency and equality before the law.”
Karystianou’s statements that “overflowed the cup” and Farantouris’ stance
Many argue that the last straw was the statements Maria Karystianou made against Alexis Tsipras. The fact that the SYRIZA MEP continued to politically flirt with the president of the Tempe Victims’ Association, while she attributed the greatest responsibility for the memoranda to the former prime minister, particularly triggered the situation.
When asked about this issue, however, he avoided commenting on Maria Karystianou’s criticism of Alexis Tsipras: “I speak for myself,” he said. “What Karystianou said about me is good and I accept it. She emerges from anonymity, she’s not from the party machine and this apparently caused an allergic reaction,” he added. “I remind you that I didn’t talk about integration, although your colleagues did. I welcomed Ms. Karystianou’s entry, as well as the movement’s evolution. Such an allergic reaction indicates fear and distancing from the central slogan of political activity,” Nikolas Farantouris added.
This development is obviously not good at all for SYRIZA, but neither for Maria Karystianou, who daily repeats that she won’t include officials from old parties in her party. And this is because we should remember that Nikolas Farantouris, besides being a close associate of Alexis Tsipras, was also a candidate for the presidency of the Koumoundourou party.
