By Penelope Galliou

The baton of developments for his “party luck”. Pavlos Polakis receives today the executive office of SYRIZA, which meets at 5 pm led by Alexis Tsipras and with the participation of Rania Sviggou, Olga Gerovassilis, Marilisa Xenogiannakopoulos, Efi Ahtsioglou, Rena Douros, Nasos Iliopoulos and George Vassiliadis . The political planning will be together with Messrs. Bisti Ragousis, Tsakalotos and Papas.

According to information, Alexis Tsipras is expected to recommend the referral of Pavlos Polakis to the ethics committee, which is expected to be accepted, while very soon the committee will meet to decide on the penalty to be imposed on the party executive.

According to the statute, there are four penalties: suspension of membership for a certain period of time, deletion, recommendation or reprimand. However, also according to the statute, a two-thirds majority is required to accept removal or suspension of party membership. The members of the ethics committee are 15, so 10 out of 15.

So far, however, it is assumed that Pavlos Polakis is off the ballot, but the question is what will be decided by the ethics committee, which will certainly meet within the week, maybe even tomorrow, Wednesday.

There are executives who, on a human level, seem not to want things to go as far as his removal from the party, for example Giorgos Katrougalos who has worked for a long time in the institutions committee with Pavlos Polakis and some who are worried about the how right it is that things go to extremes in an election season.

Giorgos Katrougalos, who although agrees that Pavlos Polakis should be excluded from the ballot, but disagrees that he should also be excluded from the party, in an interview on “First Program” assessed that “he should not proceed with the deletion of Mr. Polakis. The things that Pavlos is doing they do not abduct any moral dishonor to his person. It is, in my opinion, a great political error, but they do not show corruption, they do not show any exposure, any conflict with the principles of SYRIZA,” remarked Mr. Katrougalos.

The MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis also distanced himself from the upcoming developments in SYRIZA, who in his post believes that no one is redundant. “In order for SYRIZA to win and to oust the Mitsotakis Government, an all-out force is needed! The times and the world suffering from the Right demand it! Led by Alexis Tsipras, a four-year program, seriousness, unity and collegiality. No one and nothing is left!” he stated meaningfully.

However, SYRIZA officially expresses an opposite opinion, with the heads of the Transparency and Justice departments opposing both Polaki’s tactics and those who try to justify him. “The political statements of Pavlos Polakis as formulated in his post yesterday are absolutely contrary to our unanimously approved programmatic statements on the functioning of the state, justice and institutions.” Mr. Ragousis and Mr. Xanthopoulos said in their joint statement.

The rationale for putting Pavlos Polakis under suspension was captured by the SYRIZA leaks, after the suspension of Polakis and the following messages are sought to be sent: that the president of the party is not being blackmailed, the fight against corruption is collective and cannot be in terms of a personal crusade as well as that autonomous politics and personal agendas do not fit, because SYRIZA operates collectively

In any case, the organs of SYRIZA will have the final say on what happens next, while it is certain that Alexis Tsipras wants calm within the party, which he will seek by putting an end to introversion.

The attitude of the ND

In Megaros Maximos and in Piraeus, however, they treat the case of Pavlos Polakis and his threats against judges, journalists and public officials not as an isolated incident of “diversion” but as an expanded one. They also place Alexis Tsipras himself in the frame of responsibility, who throughout the previous period kept his executive in bulletproof until now it seems that he could not do otherwise after the new diversion according to institutions and initiates internal party procedures, again without – as government sources emphasize – that Alexis Tsipras “come forward” as the leader of the party and clarify the case.

What Megaros Maximos is also focusing on is the fact that there was never an official announcement by SYRIZA or its representative about the suspension of Polakis, but only leaks without talking about the specifications and the essence of the threats, as they note.

The government side also puts Nikos Pappas in the same frame, noting that the attacks against justice were not an aberration of Mr. Polakis, but the line of SYRIZA after the unanimous conviction of Mr. Pappas by the Special Court.

They even call on Koumoundourou to delete and exclude from the ballot the former close associate of Alexis Tsipras, Nikos Pappa, otherwise – as they say – the deletion of Pavlos Polakis alone is not enough for SYRIZA to prove that it respects institutions and values.