Among other topics, the president of the Democracy Movement, Stefanos Kasselakis, addressed the much-discussed return of Alexis Tsipras, opinion polls, and potential collaborations while speaking to SKAI TV. When asked about the former prime minister, he said: “Things will change with fresh people, fresh personnel, fresh ideas. Do you wake up every day thinking about Alexis Tsipras’s rebranding? Because I know that people wake up thinking about how they’ll make it through the month.”
When commenting that Mr. Tsipras is coming back galloping, Mr. Kasselakis laughed and remarked: “I think you’re insulting horses now.”
Stefanos Kasselakis on Democracy Movement: I don’t agree we’re under pressure
Regarding the opinion polls showing his party under pressure, he stated: “I don’t agree that we’re under pressure; it contradicts the reality we see in the field. People see clear proposals from us, and we are the only fresh party that exists.” At another point, he mentioned that polls “are completely useless in practice. The situation in the next elections will be entirely different,” explaining that “inflation is not imported, it’s structural. Tempi was not an accident. They will play a role in the rule of law. And third, regarding the 41%, no one knew then about the presumptive income. (The government) fooled small and medium-sized entrepreneurs and freelancers.”
Regarding energy agreements, he said he agrees but “let’s not celebrate either.”
“I completely agree with Ms. Karystianou that change will come from new movements”
On the possibility of collaborations, and specifically asked about Maria Karystianou, he said: “I think every social action is also political. Obviously, when you’ve mobilized so many hundreds of thousands of people, that says something. I completely agree with Ms. Karystianou that change will come from new movements, with incorruptible people. Regarding the Tempi case and the rule of law, we have spoken and collaborated on the indictments.”
“Obviously our goals for the rule of law converge, and I would say that the reforms we have proposed in the Democracy Movement are enormous and would probably find her and many others in agreement,” he noted.
About Zoe Konstantopoulou, he mentioned that “from the moment she didn’t contribute a single word to the indictments but also played games with last-minute signatures to create a show with the indictment, it’s over. There’s no basis for moving forward (with collaboration).”
Regarding the possibility of cooperation with New Democracy, he clarified that “coalition government with Kyriakos Mitsotakis is absolutely out of the question,” while about PASOK he said: “Philosophically we are very close, but I don’t know to what extent PASOK could practically agree with our policy proposals. We have had discussions with both MPs and officials.” Finally, he emphasized that the Democracy Movement will proceed independently in the elections.
