The new beginning in SYRIZA brought new faces and new roles to the party’s Political Secretariat, as Socrates Famellos attempted to keep all elected officials satisfied.
With the proposal he submitted for the distribution of responsibilities, the SYRIZA president tried to have both old and new officials deal with issues that directly interest them. It’s characteristic that Pavlos Polakis took over the Agricultural Development and Transparency sector, as he desired, George Karameros local government, and Nikos Pappas economic affairs, which he has been dealing with from the beginning.
Thus the session proceeded in a very good climate, without confrontations, barbs and reactions. As party officials said, the dialogue was particularly fruitful among all sides. The discussion naturally included the OPEKEPE scandal and the immigration issue.
The only issue on which no decision was taken is the stance SYRIZA will maintain toward the Investigative Committee proposed by the government for OPEKEPE. Given that there are two different views, party officials decided to discuss it later. It should be noted that some believe they should denounce the process and withdraw, while other officials insist they should remain, so as not to make the process easier for the government. The common view, however, is that SYRIZA-PS is negative and says “no to a whitewashing Investigation”.
Socrates Famellos, referring to his briefing on the OPEKEPE issue, emphasized that “the revelations coming to light every day about OPEKEPE and the ‘blue deep state’ are shocking. They stole money from honest farmers to make their cronies richer and to influence the electoral result. The Investigative Committee proposed by Mr. Mitsotakis aims to cover up his responsibilities. The contradictions with what he was saying a short time ago are glaring. He wants to avoid the Preliminary Committee for investigating the criminal responsibilities of his government, as provided by the Constitution. He proves weak against the blackmail of Voridis and Avgenakis. But he is also afraid of the revelation of his own responsibilities”.
And he added: “Kyriakos Mitsotakis boldly committed to taking back the money from the ‘thieves’. Only he himself distributed this money. The ‘thieves’ are the ‘blue boys’ who got rich from the ‘blue deep state’. Mr. Mitsotakis opened the way for the ‘thieves’. That’s why the European Prosecutor’s Office is investigating them. Taking back the money is Mr. Mitsotakis’ obligation. We say all tax numbers that received illegal subsidies should be revealed, the money should be returned to farmers and exemplary punishments should be imposed”.
The SYRIZA president also referred to his trip to Crete saying: “A few days ago I visited Crete. The entire local community is crying out about who the gang of Mr. Mitsotakis’ people are. In society’s consciousness he is an unreliable and delegitimized prime minister. And his ministers must be held accountable. We did a very good processing of the case file, we submitted a joint proposal for establishing a Preliminary Committee with the New Left parliamentary group and proved that progressive cooperations are in society’s interest”.
Regarding PASOK’s stance on the OPEKEPE scandal issue, he emphasized that “Mr. Androulakis again chose party entrenchment. With anxiety he rushed to declare from the start that PASOK-KINAL would submit its own proposal. And, apart from that, he also chose offsetting, trying to arbitrarily put the SYRIZA government in the frame. Mr. Androulakis forgets that the right is the opponent and that the European prosecutor is examining the Mitsotakis government”.
According to party sources, there was satisfaction in the Political Secretariat session about the party’s strategy. Also SYRIZA-PS’s course is positively assessed, especially after the Congress. The same sources also say the party showed immediate reflexes on immigration, speed on the Preliminary Committee issue, while immediately raising the election issue. Also, the cooperation with New Left on the Preliminary Committee issue is counted positively. At the same time there is optimism about the party’s new effort and the unified message it sends.
The Political Secretariat session also dealt with preparation for the Thessaloniki International Fair. As for the timing of elections, SYRIZA-PS declares ready whenever they may occur.
