One day before the Movement for Democracy conference and just forty-eight hours after the deadly shipwreck off Chios, Stefanos Kasselakis speaks about everything in the parapolitika.gr vidcast “Black Box” with Thanasis Fouskidis. Stefanos Kasselakis reveals that the Movement for Democracy is ready for introspection, emphasizing that its identity is the “anti-establishment center.” At the same time, he admitted that more departures of officials are expected from the Movement for Democracy, while with the phrase “stay tuned,” he previewed that tomorrow, at the conference, he is expected to make some serious announcements both for society and for the existing parties.
He doesn’t hesitate to speak about Alexis Tsipras, while for Maria Karytsianou he emphasizes that it’s not he, but she who speaks positively about the positions he has been expressing for years.
Stefanos Kasselakis: “Immigration is a humanitarian issue”
Specifically, regarding the recent tragedy in Chios where 15 migrants lost their lives, Stefanos Kasselakis emphasized that “immigration is both a foreign policy issue, a sovereignty issue and a European policy issue but also a humanitarian issue,” while keeping distance from those who rushed to draw conclusions under the circumstances in which the deadly shipwreck unfolded, he said: “I don’t want to speculate about what exactly might have happened, whether it’s provocation from Turkey and all this rhetoric that exists. We’ll see where the investigation leads. What I can tell you is that where there are huge gaps is in the shipwreck off Pylos.”
“The Movement for Democracy as a living organism must introspect on its journey”
Regarding whether tomorrow’s Movement for Democracy conference will be a dissolution conference or whether exact positions on the post-election scenario will be heard, the party president said: “It’s important for living organisms, like parties, to do not only self-criticism, but also introspection. That is, their continuity should not be taken for granted as if they were party armies. So we created a new movement in December 2024, one year has passed. We have done very great work for a party that has no resources.”
“The Movement for Democracy has contributed to the country’s democracy, but we must have electoral influence”
And he added that “we shouldn’t tear down this work. What the Movement for Democracy has done is a contribution to democracy. From there on, however, it’s good to contribute both institutionally and socially, but to have maximum influence you must bring electoral results, you must win votes.” Regarding the party’s polling numbers, Stefanos Kasselakis replied: “the polls currently show New Democracy above 30%, which there’s no way it’s true, when it has lost freelancers, when it has lost small and medium-sized businesses.”
“After everything that has happened, I believe people will get up from the couch”
And he wondered: “Now does anyone believe we’ll have the same Mitsotakis – Tsipras dipole after everything that has happened? Do we believe people won’t get up from the couch? So therefore the Movement for Democracy must move forward, must be restructured, correct the mistakes that have been made internally in the first year, clarify exactly what it stands for.”
“I don’t seek to be like the others in politics”
Differentiating himself from establishment politicians, Stefanos Kasselakis pointed out that “the Greek people have been so disappointed by politicians, have seen so many flip-flops, that with all respect I don’t want to be like the others.”
“The progressive center is our identity. The anti-establishment center”
When asked if he’s saddened by the departures of MPs, he replied: “I’ve experienced a lot in the last 2.5 years. Certainly people who have held government or parliamentary positions are part of a race mainly for their own career and I understand that. Ambition is perfectly legitimate. From there on, things change. I want to propose tomorrow at our conference to clarify that our applied policy, our identity is the progressive center, which was part of SYRIZA’s declaration, but we often forget that. So therefore, that’s where we want to be. We want to be an anti-establishment, but realistic party that expresses the progressive center.”
“Burning bridges in politics is not a strategy that succeeds”
He added that he believes “it’s very healthy for everyone to show their intentions. And often, as I said before, I push things a bit to the limit so masks fall. To know exactly who will be there as a soldier beside me and I equal with him or her. What I can tell you is that both in life, but certainly in politics, burning bridges is not a strategy that succeeds. Very rarely does someone succeed who has burned bridges.”
Stefanos Kasselakis clarified that “if someone disagrees with the direction the Movement for Democracy is going -which I repeat is the modern progressive center- and wants to stay in a more sterile rhetoric of rigidities, of what is called left, which in practice is extremely conservative this left, because it says no to any change, if you think about it, they can leave, they can come to talk with me and I will support their choice.”
“There will be other departures from the Movement for Democracy in the coming weeks”
At this point, Stefanos Kasselakis predicted that other departures will occur from the Movement for Democracy while also previewing the entry of new faces. “There is ample scope for new faces and new ideas to emerge. We know there will be other departures in the coming weeks. There must be… We cannot be a SYRIZA split. Obviously I don’t want anyone to leave, but at the same time we must be united to go into these elections. When you’re in politics to bring crushing change to the country, you don’t do it on terms of political influence from past central committees” he said characteristically.
“If we want to bring changes, the old party culture must be uprooted”
And he appeared certain that “this culture that unfortunately, a part of it followed even in the movement for democracy, must be uprooted. The culture must be a decentralized, directly participatory party, which will fight as one fist for the good of society.”
“When someone wants to succeed they correct and improve”
“Let’s not forget that I wasn’t even given the opportunity to run for SYRIZA leadership, because there are many reasons for another war. That’s in history now” he noted and added about the Movement for Democracy: “So we started from Gazi and many followed, they also followed mentalities from there. Understandable, that’s the truth, but we must correct them, because that’s what someone who wants to succeed does. They correct and improve.”
“You can’t decide about something that doesn’t exist”
In response to Thanasis Fouskidis’s question about the Center-Left, and also Maria Karytsianou, Stefanos Kasselakis answered that “you can’t decide something about something that doesn’t exist. With all respect this center-left cliche must end. The center-left is not a monolithic thing, that believes one thing.”
“The problem with the center-left is that it’s expressed by persons and not by policies”
And he added that “the center-left is not one thing. And that’s the problem. That it’s persons. It’s time to become policies. Persons must express policies.”
“At our conference I will present a program that will express society”
At this point he emphasized that the Movement for Democracy can be the party that will tell these truths. “Someone who doesn’t agree on ten things, from those he must agree on, doesn’t help. We have clear positions. I repeat, I can” he said.
“I intend to present my proposal for the existing parties at our conference”
Then he revealed that “tomorrow at the conference I will present a clear new program for society’s major issue. Stay tuned! So the question is addressed both to existing and potential parties whether they can cooperate based on our positions. But I -and I close with this- will make a proposal for the existing parties.”
“Alexis Tsipras had told me that SYRIZA needs a CEO like me”
Regarding the beginning of his involvement with politics and SYRIZA, Stefanos Kasselakis said: “my integration (into SYRIZA), obviously Alexis’s stance towards my person, then, in 2022-2023, was a stance that, I don’t know if it inspired me, but it certainly inspired trust, and the man was approachable and we could communicate well. What followed, obviously I didn’t expect it and he should answer for that himself, because I think it’s a bit strange for someone to resign from a party and announce another party within a year. I mean why did he resign, why didn’t you change (SYRIZA)? He himself had suggested to me that SYRIZA needs a CEO like me and together with the president to change everything. I was there and had suggested to him ‘come let’s change everything’. I had given my intention to do that.”
“I’m proud I chose the anti-establishment space”
However, Stefanos Kasselakis states he doesn’t regret his choices, saying: “I have no remorse for what I’ve done, nor for the fact that I didn’t choose the space that theoretically would suit my profile based on studies and business career, abroad I mean. I’m very proud I chose the most popular space that is and was most independent from interests. And I’m proud they elected me, a person who could never have survived in establishment parties, not only to run for president, to survive in there.” “Therefore, I repeat that the people, the parties that had the opportunity to govern the country have failed. If you want to change things, you don’t go with the same failed recipe” he said characteristically.
“Karytsianou has positioned herself positively on positions I’ve been expressing for years”
Regarding his positions that converge with those of Maria Karytsianou, he emphasized: “With all respect Maria Karytsianou has positioned herself friendly towards the positions I’ve been saying for years. And I repeat with all respect to Mrs. Karytsianou, it’s not that I came to her positions, the position of lifting immunities for MPs and ministers and the independence of justice we’ve been saying for years. In fact, there had even been a scandalous supposed phrase from a woman who had told me to defang justice and I had replied spontaneously ‘I like it’.” “So don’t tell me about independence of justice, I’m the only one who has faced political persecution, who has given clean money so we could pay party debts when everyone has taken and owes God” added Stefanos Kasselakis.
Regarding the Tempi tragedy he emphasized: “We should have seen ministers in handcuffs. Why? Because lives were lost with their responsibility. I’m not saying they were lost intentionally, but with their responsibility. And it’s not possible for all other Greeks to have responsibility for our fellow citizen’s life and not a minister or deputy minister.”
“Human rights for the Movement for Democracy are non-negotiable”
When asked about abortions, regarding Maria Karytsianou’s statements, Stefanos Kasselakis replied that “there’s no issue on this (meaning we didn’t disagree on the abortion statements). All human rights for us, for the movement for democracy, are non-negotiable, they are non-negotiable. There’s not even a discussion because not only that, we must enrich them.” “I’m not a political analyst” he said when asked about the former president of the Association of Relatives of Tempi Victims, “but I’ll tell you that entering politics based on such a traumatic experience that happened so unjustly and with the state’s responsibility to your family, is political as a trigger, as a motive. It’s not just personal.”
“Mitsotakis is part of the problem in Greece. We don’t seek cooperation”
Regarding whether the Movement for Democracy would cooperate post-electorally with ND to prevent the country from falling into ungovernability, “my answer is no” he said categorically. He emphasized that Kyriakos Mitsotakis “is part of the problem” and added that “ND is a party that has tremendous corruption within it. I have addressed New Democracy and its 2.2 million voters. And in fact some distorted what I said that theoretically the honest portion of those voters, people who aren’t there for the dough with party armies and direct assignments could manage to change their party. But that now is a science fiction scenario in practice. There’s essentially no hope from this party to change what has happened at this moment. That’s why you see former prime ministers, like Karamanlis and Samaras, who say ‘we don’t recognize what has happened’.”
“The reason there’s a single-party government is the 600,000 lost votes of SYRIZA in the previous elections”
“So therefore the Greek can’t place hopes in an internal cleansing of New Democracy, after everything that has happened” he said conclusively and added: “There shouldn’t even be a single-party government. The reason there’s a single-party government is because SYRIZA lost 600,000 votes in ’23 due to local currencies, due to consulates in Thrace, due to Katroungalos statements, due to confusion on many positions. So, the country’s natural political normalcy should have been more institutional and more consensual and with cooperation governments. Instead, unfortunately, it fell into a situation where the end of the Metapolitefsi, as we know it, and you’ll see and, I predict, that after the next elections the old parties, including New Democracy and PASOK, will shrink very much.”
