Sokratis Famellos launched a sweeping internal purge yesterday during a meeting of the SYRIZA parliamentary group, stripping Nikos Pappas of his role as parliamentary spokesperson and sending a clear message to Pavlos Polakis that he will not tolerate ultimatums from an expelled MP.
Read also: Signs of collapse within SYRIZA over Tsipras: Famellos ousts Pappas and Zachariadis — Polakis declares he’s still in the fight
At the same time, Famellos replaced SYRIZA’s party spokesperson Kostas Zachariadis with Christos Giannoulis, while Kostas Barkas and Theofilos Xanthopoulos stepped in to fill the vacancy left by Nikos Pappas.
In his own way, the SYRIZA leader responded to the ultimatum that Pavlos Polakis and Nikos Pappas had been pressing upon him in recent weeks — demanding that he contact Alexis Tsipras within ten days to explore whether there was any room for cooperation between the Koumoundourou-based party and ELAS.
Addressing the parliamentary group directly, Famellos made pointed remarks about the MP for Chania: “The Central Committee, by a significant majority, approved the proposal of the Political Secretariat — which was also my own proposal — and rejected amendments that would have obscured our clear and forward-looking decision. This was a courageous decision, and I call on everyone to support it in practice. I will not allow us to reopen the debate that took place before the Central Committee meeting.
The amendments seeking to remove the term ‘support’, to prepare alternative ballot lists, to pursue a Plan B, and so on — were rejected clearly and democratically. We are now moving forward with implementing that decision. Public challenges to a collective decision, just days after the Central Committee voted, are an affront to our members. They only breed inward-looking division and erosion, and they do nothing to answer society’s question about how we move beyond the current right-wing establishment.
I will not allow a former member of the parliamentary group — who has already insulted the way we operate through his public statements, and was expelled from the group for exactly that reason — to now issue coercive ultimatums and stir up further crisis by calling on MPs and party officials to choose sides, when we have already collectively decided our position. We have paid a very heavy price for similar mistakes in the past.”
Despite the boldness of these moves, this latest development does not appear to resolve the underlying problem — namely, what the future holds for SYRIZA, given that Alexis Tsipras has ruled out any cooperation between the two parties.
The prevailing sense is that Sokratis Famellos, through these maneuvers, is simply trying to run out the clock until autumn, when all signs suggest significant political developments will unfold.
Until then, however, he will have to contend with the fierce criticism that Nikos Pappas and Pavlos Polakis are set to unleash starting today — as both figures show no intention of letting up their attacks on the SYRIZA leader. On the contrary, all indications are that they will intensify them.
