What is happening in MeRA25 – The parties that saw their parliamentary groups dissolve

By Antonis Anzoletou

Something is going on with MeRA25 and since the middle of 2021 the departures have caused a problem for the party of Yanis Varoufakis, giving an image that it is “withering away”. The last act was the letter of independence he sent Fotini Bakadima. The MP, who has been a close associate of Mr. Varoufakis since the time he was Minister of Finance, emphasizes in her letter that she will continue to fight alongside the citizens of Piraeus. So far, she has not clarified the reasons that led her to this decision, simply in a conversation she had with journalists, she was content to say that “disagreements always exist and the roads part at some point.”

In a statement, the party said: “At a time when MeRA25 is under the full-frontal attack of the oligarchs, whom it denounces by name inside and outside the Parliament, Fotini Bakadima, MP from Piraeus, chose to stay away from the battles. Everyone is judged.”

A disturbance has been caused in MePA25, as it was preceded by its independence Konstantinas Adamou in January 2021. She had spoken of anti-democratic, anti-social, unethical and authoritarian behaviors that were taking place, both towards her and other fellow travelers. It may remain independent, but it has joined PASOK, as it participated in the voting for the election of the president last December, but also in the election of prefectural committees and representatives for the conference.

The withdrawal from the MeRA25 parliamentary group Angeliki Adamopoulou it was the second “bombshell” that exploded in March 2022 with allegations of authoritarian behavior within the party. It was preceded by Maria BotonakiDeputy Member of Parliament 1 of Athens and former head of the Department of Justice.

What is the problem faced by the secretary of MeRA25? How now, of the nine MPs he had in the Plenary Session, only six remain. And because a parliamentary group constitutes a party with five members of parliament elected in the general election with its ballot, for the Yanis Varoufakis there is not much room for more losses. When a parliamentary group is dissolved, it loses the privileges that its leader has to intervene in meetings, or in the Plenary in pre-day debates, while he is also not represented in the Presidium of the Parliament. From MeRA25, however, they declare that they are determined to continue their course. The party participated in the recent Pan-Hellenic Conference of “LAE – Insubordinate Left” and there are many who see positively a possible pre-election cooperation of the two forces that have supported the anti-memorandum wave.

From September 2015 to July 2019, however, the small parties went through a thousand waves in the Parliament with the parliamentary groups of ANEL and the Union of Centers finally disbanding.

ANEL

The Independent Greeks, as a government partner of SYRIZA, had entered the Parliament in the second elections of 2015 with a percentage of 3.69% winning 10 seats. In June 2018, Dimitris Kammenos was deleted from the party and Giorgos Lazaridis became independent, among other officials who disagreed with the Prespa Agreement. On January 13, 2019, Panos Kammenos announced the departure of AN.EL. by the Tsipras government, due to the imminent passing of the agreement on the Macedonian issue.

After this development, Elena Koundouras and Vassilis Kokkalis were deleted from the Parliamentary Group and left the party, as they had decided to support the government and not leave their government positions. A few days later, Thanasis Papachristopoulos was excluded from the parliamentary group. Aristidis Fokas from the Union of Centers may have joined ANEL, however, because he was not elected with the party of Panos Kammenos, it was considered, according to the Scientific Council of the Parliament, that only four MPs had remained on the seats of ANEL.

Association of Centers

In September 2015, with 3.43%, the Union of Centers entered Parliament for the first time with nine MPs. But it ended up having four and the parliamentary group of Vassilis Leventis was dissolved. At the end of 2016, the Second Member of Parliament for Athens, Georgios-Dimitrios Karras, became independent, denouncing the undermining of the party by associates of the president. In July 2017, the Second Piraeus Member of Parliament Theodora Megaloikonomou became independent. After a few months, he joined SY.RIZ.A. In April 2018, the MP Georgios Katsiantonis became independent from the Parliamentary Group of the Union of Centers, citing political differences with Vassilis Leventis, joining New Democracy. This was followed by the independence of the 2nd Member of Parliament of Thessaloniki, Aristidis Fokas. Shortly after the 2019 European elections, Ioannis Saridis also left the party. The rift with MP A’ Thessaloniki was preordained, as he had voted “yes” in the last budget submitted by SYRIZA.

The river

The path of Potamios was also stormy during the previous four years in the Parliament. With a percentage of 4.09%, he had elected 11 deputies. The differences, departures and accessions to other parties for different reasons of Grigoris Psarianou, Haris Theocharis, Giorgos Amyras, Iasona Fotila, Kostas Bargiotas, Spyros Danellis and Katerina Markos had put the party of Stavros Theodorakis into adventures as well. Finally, the parliamentary group of Potami was reconstituted with five MPs, after the resignation of New Democracy MP, Katerina Markou, whose seat was returned to Potami (where she had been elected) and was replaced by Nikos Nyfoudis.

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