Party officials from Amalia’s headquarters observe the complete alignment between PASOK and New Democracy in their approach to handling Alexis Tsipras’s political venture, as both the Prime Minister and the leader of the main opposition appear to be attempting to morally discredit the former Prime Minister.
The magic word and its synonyms that the two political leaders use is “dissolution,” aiming to demonstrate that Alexis Tsipras is ruthless and, in order to fulfill his personal ambitions, does not hesitate to dissolve two parties: SYRIZA and New Left.
Joint PASOK-New Democracy line against Tsipras: The “dissolution” narrative and fear of comeback
It is characteristic that the Prime Minister, speaking from Parliament during the wiretapping debate and addressing the PASOK president, said: “You’re showing your anxiety about who will capture second place. You or the one who comes and whose name is rarely mentioned in SYRIZA. Who will probably destroy the party elected as main opposition to create a new progressive pole.”
A few days later, Nikos Androulakis from the Delphi Forum declared a two-front war against New Democracy and Alexis Tsipras, adding caustically that the former Prime Minister “dissolved his party and returns in a messianic way.” Obviously this narrative comes from some communication expert of the ruling party, which PASOK adopted without second thought. It is characteristic that in recent days, the majority of officials from Charilaou Trikoupi Street operate based on this narrative, saying the former Prime Minister actually wants to dissolve the entire progressive space to create his own party.
The truth is that neither New Democracy nor PASOK are pained by whether SYRIZA and New Left will dissolve. Their main pursuit is to discredit Alexis Tsipras in the left and center-left space, arguing that since he abandoned his former comrades by putting SYRIZA in jeopardy, then attempted to discredit them and now sets terms to include them in the new political formation. This is because those with this reasoning consider this the former Prime Minister’s vulnerable point at this particular moment, since political confrontation is not yielding proper results. So what they will attempt is to present him as ruthless and amoral, someone who moves based only on his own interest. Since they cannot accuse him or his government of financial misconduct and economic scandals, while both New Democracy and PASOK have skeletons in their closets, the solution is to present him as a personality who “steps over corpses” to achieve what he wants.
Naturally, Alexis Tsipras himself contributed to this when he decided on his comeback through presenting his book “ITHACA,” harshly criticizing his former comrades, something he partially retracted in his interview with Nikos Chatzinikolaou, saying he “honors” those he journeyed with through difficult times. Information suggests that based on this narrative, both parties are expected to escalate their attacks in the coming period, believing this will damage him in citizens’ consciousness.
Tsipras’s stance
The truth is, however, that Alexis Tsipras has made no intervention toward dissolving SYRIZA or New Left. The fact that some officials wish to align politically with him doesn’t mean he incites them. It’s characteristic that so far very few officials have left the Koumoundourou party, while he sets a “brake” — resignation — to make things more difficult.
His intention is to present the new faces he will journey with in the new party in the coming period. Now, if later and through political developments some wish to journey with him, this is legitimate, as officials from other parties may also follow him. After all, this is how it’s customarily done.
Meanwhile, let’s not forget that in modern political life nothing comes from parthenogenesis. Both parties have political leaders — Samaras, Papandreou — who wanted to create their own parties, regardless of whether they failed. However, Alexis Tsipras must also decide how to move, as the recent statement by Theoni Koufonikolakou, considered the favorite for the new party’s spokesperson position, when asked about the notorious… balcony, referred to what Alexis Tsipras has said, namely that “the new party cannot be born from active MPs, since Parliament is discredited.”
This statement by Ms. Koufonikolakou infuriated many SYRIZA officials — and rightfully so — even those who don’t hide their appreciation for Alexis Tsipras. This is because it’s one thing for the former Prime Minister, who has been in Parliament and knows people and situations, to say it, and another for someone who has seen Parliament mainly from the outside to uncritically convey this view.
Apart from everything else, this position by the former Prime Minister is wrong regarding his former comrades, since by general admission both SYRIZA and New Left MPs are the most active and effective.
