Former Prime Minister George Papandreou, speaking yesterday on Thursday on ANT1, reiterated that by claiming leadership in the Movement for Change he does not seek political revenge and that the only justification he wants is to see the country move forward.
“I was a minister and I was a prime minister and I was a party leader. I have no ambition to grab a chair. I have seen them, I have lived them. I felt the debt to the faction and my goal is not to seize power but to offer to this faction, which indeed after the absence and the tragic development with Fofi Gennimata, who left a legacy I would say surplus morality, fought lads no, fought no “only with the disease, but also for the faction”, stressed Mr. Papandreou. He reiterated that he had not planned his candidacy and how he would support Fofi Gennimata if he was in the race for leadership.
The former prime minister promised that in case he does not win, he will remain in the party, in order to “stay united, the unity to be forged even more, based on the values that we will highlight. In any case, I will be close. I’ll be here. And I was always here. Always close to the values of PASOK. “Whatever my route was,” he assured.
George Papandreou criticized SYRIZA, saying characteristically that its goal is to make the Movement for Change again, PASOK, a real bed of social democracy “So that there are no imitations. And in fact bad imitations. And I am not saying this on a personal level, I am saying that this faction of the traditional Left is a conservative left. It is the faction that was tested, given opportunities, the Greek people trusted that faction the fate of the place and instead of really making progressive changes what did it do? “He did the most clockwise thing,” he underlined.
He accused SYRIZA of allying with “Karamanlism” to cover up its real causes because the country was close to bankruptcy. “SYRIZA, instead of seeing what the causes were and who was to blame, allied with Karamanlism, then allied with Mr. Kammenos and of course hid the responsibilities of the right. “And not only that, but its policy was clientele, that is, statehood, centralism, instead we came to power, we share power, we intervene in justice, we intervene in the media and we do not build an open and democratic party.”
He added: “The opportunity was given to this area by the Greek people. Failed. “Again, we are ahead and I am ahead, in order to bring the world closer to us again and for there to be an awakening of the progressive world, in order to highlight the progressive values - we have proved it”.
George Papandreou took a position on the issue of possible government cooperation of KINAL with ND or SYRIZA.
“Those who say that ‘we will be the crutch of one or the crutch of the other or someone will take us here or there’, are essentially a defeatist perception of our space. I do not accept this, I have lived as the Greek people have lived that this space also exists and it is also the desire of a very large part of the Greek people to have the so-called center-left “, he noted and stressed:” Partnerships need a political platform. I honestly do not see today (cooperation) neither with New Democracy, nor with SYRIZA, which I consider a conservative faction. Let the two rivals SYRIZA and New Democracy be tested. They have worked together in the past, in ’89. Mr. Kammenos with SYRIZA with Karamanlism worked very well, in the squares of the indignant they coordinated very well, their problem is obviously PASOK. However, we believe that PASOK is the solution for a progressive change in our country “.
Responding to the criticism that there is an obstacle to the renewal, Mr. Papandreou noted that “the renewal has a name, but it is also a way of life. Renewal is knowing what you have done, thinking about it, fighting it, working on it, learning from it, learning from it. Today I will tell you that if we do not do this at this time with the great challenges of the climate crisis being discussed in Glasgow, of the refugees that are part and parcel of a great deal and of the climate crisis, the issue of the huge inequalities that exist worldwide, creating polarizations , authoritarianism, demagogy, we have seen recently in America, problems in terms of health, its treatment, the health system, the education system, if we do not see them and do not take advantage of our country, we will have big problems in front of us”.
George Papandreou, wanting to close the debate on the critical events when he ruled in 2009-2010, criticized ND and SYRIZA for their criticism of how the country was led to the memoranda, recalling the report of the European Parliament that rejected the responsibilities of fiscal derailment until 2009 in the policy of ND. He also recalled the reforms during his tenure (2009-2012).
He refuted the criticism that in 2004 he became the leader of PASOK, because “Costas Simitis gave him the ring:” nobody gave me the ring, the Greek people gave it, they ordered a million people to go forward, “he said. Regarding the famous phrase “there is money” – which was broadcast in its entirety during the show – he stressed that even today he would say it: “(…) There is money, due to the Recovery Fund now, but in any case there is money if we are tidy the country, if we hit the bureaucracy, if we hit the corruption “.
Remarkable – though well-known – was what he said about the referendum in 2011: he said that the then President of France Nicolas Sarkozy disagreed while the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel was positive.
George Papandreou also justified the government cooperation of PASOK with ND (2012-2014) arguing that “we also had a duty to support this process to end the memorandum. In the end, Mr. Samaras, who could have closed the memorandum, made other moves, essentially threw the ball to the next government and of course the rest is another story – how SYRIZA handled this case “.
He insisted that consensus is needed on major issues, for example in the field of education, where the country continues to falter. “The big reform we did in 2011 was Mrs. (Anna) Diamantopoulou, if you remember, Minister of Education, she was supported by great forces in Parliament, even by New Democracy, but as soon as the Samaras government was elected we had a reform and of course SYRIZA did even more so this counter-reform. So what is the conclusion? In some things we have to find consensus. We have differences, but we must find consensus and move forward because we do not have time to lose. “
.
