“A book presentation is just that, it’s nothing foreign to what I’ve been saying lately, it’s a presentation by the former prime minister, who belongs to the center-left space,” said Antonis Saoulidis, lawyer and member of PASOK’s political secretariat, speaking on Parapolitika 90.1 and the show “Opposite Microphones” with Sotiris Xenakis and Vasilis Skouris, about the presentation of Alexis Tsipras’ book in Thessaloniki.
Antonis Saoulidis on Alexis Tsipras’ book presentation
Specifically, when asked how he decided to be among the speakers at the book presentation, he said: “My view is that all entities and all people in the center-left must open a dialogue so that the country can acquire an alternative proposal for progressive governance.” He added: “All those who find themselves in the progressive space should take initiatives, give people choices.”
Asked to comment on what Nikos Androulakis said a few days ago about Mr. Tsipras, he said: “If all these things exist and are valid, ‘a glorious field of honor,’ there is space and I have supported this, that with his re-election to the PASOK presidency at that time and with SYRIZA dissolved, he could have stepped forward and gathered those who are trying to bring change to the country. Apparently this hasn’t worked out, so we sit and wait for what? For Mitsotakis to win again?”
Subsequently, when asked about a possible alliance between PASOK, Tsipras, and SYRIZA, he said: “I have written that autonomy should be against conservatism and the right. There should be the logic of a large progressive democratic coalition. In this space belong Famellos and Charitsis and Androulakis. The critical thing is not the people but the policies, people react to the policies.”
When asked about PASOK and how it’s possible that he has left but is still a member of the political secretariat, he said: “When you sit at a table and discuss, you must have everything open, you can’t go with egos, this probably minimizes the chances of creating a progressive coalition. Let’s first see that we all want to achieve the same things. What I’m saying isn’t because I wasn’t elected as an MP, I will continue to fight, it’s a fight for my principles, for my beliefs.”
On whether he fears expulsion
Finally, when asked if he doesn’t fear expulsion, he emphasized:
“Every big decision can have big consequences behind it, but here we must decide what we want to prioritize, right now I want to prioritize the ‘we,’ I don’t think that remaining party-less will distance me from a political roof, from the roof of the center-left, of social democracy. And at the end of the day, we’re going to present a book, here in our coalition we have taken MPs who were elected with Mr. Tsipras.”
