Efi Ahtsioglou expressed her vision for the reconstruction of SYRIZA and bringing it back to power with the certainty that she can face Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking first, in alphabetical order, of the presidential candidates at the party’s permanent conference.

Mrs. Ahtsioglou referred to the legacy of Alexis Tsipras, wanting to appear as a continuation and at the same time an intersection in the development of SYRIZA.

He began with a look back at the government tenure of SYRIZA: “In 2010 the country went bankrupt and we, a small but dynamic party of the Left, launched a shocking journey that reached the government in 2015. This exciting journey will forever bear the stamp of Alexis Tsipras , because he was the one who targeted the Left in the government and led a trend. Our opponents had and have only one goal: to prevent us from returning to government. They did everything and continue.

What we experienced in the election is the latest episode in a strategy of attrition for the disappearance of SYRIZA, a strategy which assumes that the government will always belong to the rightful, traditional owners of the country. Today we send a resounding message: don’t wait for us to back down, to cower. We are proud of our route. There were mistakes and compromises, but there was the great victory, the liberation of our country from the memorandums and the recovery of our political freedom. With the many and for the many”.

“We are not with the elite and the fireplaces, we are with the many”

She then gave her own stamp: “We want to express the great social majority, the women, the workers, the young scientists. Do we want to express them all? No we do not want to express the party oligarchy, the fireplaces and the elite. We are not with everyone, we are with many and we are proud of our journey. We march with pride, not arrogance and with the certainty that we have one and only obligation, to inspire and plan a new era for the country”.

He referred to the situation after the elections: “We are under the weight of a big electoral defeat. In the elections, trust was renewed in a government that proceeded with arrogance and arrogance and violated democratic institutions. These are not canceled by the election result. We need to have a meaningful and productive discussion about the election result to see what we did wrong and correct it.”

Four strategic fields

Mrs. Ahtsioglou underlined that “my proposal starts from zero expectations in Greece. Greece can live better” and developed “the four strategic fields that SYRIZA must activate, the four great disputes of the time, as we are not limited to the image of a good or bad manager.

1) The state of the new era. After the pandemic and economic crises, the dilemma is not less or more state. Time has answered these. The dilemma is a state serving private interests or a state at the service of society that designs and implements public policies. We answer state that serves social needs and implements public policies. We want a general state, at the service of the many. With health services, with free high-level education and will make the necessary incisions. But also a state of transparency with strong control mechanisms.

2) The new production and development model. The dilemma is: do we continue on the same path of importing to meet the needs of tourism or do we change the production model. We answer that we are changing radically, expanding the production base, giving priority to the primary sector in craft and industrial enterprises. We leverage the Development Fund for public policies and plan the energy transition. We expand the common goods as well as scientific knowledge.

3) The work ahead. Two perceptions collide: a regressive one expressed by the ND and a progressive one. We propose a work and development leap, to give perspective to the world of work. To succeed, to convince that the everyday life of the citizen can become better. The expansion of rights, wage increases, reduction of working hours, uniform rules for all, an end to the discrimination in the labor regime that hides the lawlessness at the expense of wages is necessary.

4) The battle for individual, social, political rights. It is difficult, because this battle is presented as a luxury. But this battle is the basis for any political change, if citizens are afraid of change then there is no room for progress. We want a country that can claim and take for granted that everyone’s lives have value. The dilemma is rights for the powerful or rights for all.”

Support for Kasselakis for homophobic comments

She referred to the attacks received by her co-candidate Stefanos Kasselakis, saying: “Homophobic delusions will not only find our ridicule but also all of us in front as one body.”

He referred to foreign affairs: “Greece can be a central pillar in the Balkans and the south-eastern Mediterranean. A force for peace and stability in the region. Power to take initiative and solve problems. With a multidimensional and active foreign policy. With clear red lines to defend our sovereign rights and international law. And it is on this line that we will unwaveringly move without ever turning foreign policy into a tool of communication plans and propaganda”.

The European elections are a milestone

He set the European elections as a milestone: “The first stop for this is the European elections in the spring of 2024. Let it be the night of the return of SYRIZA-PS to a governing orbit. May it be the night when we will see tangible the results of our social expansion, of our reborn relationship with the popular claims”.

Mrs. Ahtsioglou did not hide her emotion, while also referring to the attacks she received:

“Today I hereby formally declare my intention to take my own responsibility. I don’t need to hide from you that I am excited. As I will not hide from you that many times in the past I was disappointed by the quality of our internal dialogue. But no burst of toxic masculinity, no slander, no sad, ultimately, attempt by specific media and social media centers, unfortunately also with connections to our party, as the voice of the “system” within SYRIZA-PS, made me rethink my original decision . Because I believed and still believe in what Alexis Tsipras said. That the time has come for the new wave of SYRIZA-PS”.