​​​​​​​”It should be the pursuit of all of us not just for Mitsotakis to lose – he is doing his shift – but to lead right-wing politics to defeat”, said the candidate for the presidency of SYRIZA PS Stefanos Tzoumakas, in his speech at the Permanent Congress of the party. “With knowledge, honesty and credibility for the shift of SYRIZA PS towards a new political and social majority. Forward for a stream of victory, in the strategy of the ruling party”, he emphasized.

Mr. Tzoumakas declared himself optimistic, he said that “we can move forward, with unity and turning to policies of credibility and an alternative solution, all together, with the will of the people and the youth, we can lead the country to a progressive exit strategy from the crisis”. He added that “we are a political force of fighting people” and that “we are inspired and mobilized by our ideological and political principles, our political potential, the will to participate in political and social struggles”. “We have positions and a plan, we have already started our political mobilization on a nationwide scale to be the progressive and democratic solution in the country”he emphasized.

He noted that the municipal elections it’s political elections on a national scale, it is“a great political battle and we should all be at the forefront of this fight to give the first sign of a democratic victory and defeat the conservative side.” “Not for it to fall – because it is neither a tree nor a wall – but for us to drop it”, commented. He argued that SYRIZA can have winning results in self-governing ballots in several cases.

Mr. Tzoumakas said that with the leadership of Alexis Tsipras, SYRIZA PS established itself in the citizens’ consciousness and was an agent of change and progress, defense of popular and national interests and that now “we need to define where we want to lead the country”. He emphasized that anti-governmentism is not enough and that self-determination is more important. He added that the political choices of the party must have an ideological basis, principles and a plan, there should be initiatives and creation of events, not just announcements. He underlined that there must be a major shift towards reliability and alternative solution policies. In addition, he reiterated his firm position that a national debate is urgently needed on the major issues in the economy, infrastructure, human and scientific potential. He noted that SYRIZA must be connected to the productive forces and unions, to be a political and popular party, not a party of mechanisms.

He said that the critical issue in the European elections it is the course of the European Union, which “has submitted to the strategic choices of the US and Washington, is going through a political, economic, social and energy crisis”. He argued that the EU should become a state entity, like the US, with a federation, a central government, a senate and political autonomy. To be an intermediary force for peace, cooperation and development and a force to prevent the upcoming US-China confrontation, in the logic of the second cold war that has already begun, as he said.

Mr. Tzoumakas also referred extensively to issue of fires, noting that “we are currently experiencing the greatest ecological disaster in Evros, with a total burnt area of ​​almost 1,000,000 acres”. He said that Greece is the first among 20 Mediterranean countries in burnt areas. He accused the government of failing to live up to its responsibilities, provoking public sentiment. He emphasized that in fires the critical issue is land use changes. He commented that when an area burns, according to the Constitution, it is declared reforestable, but – he stressed – the crucial thing is that it is not reforested. He said that SYRIZA should ask and find out in total which areas have been declared reforestable and which have not been reforested and raised the question of whether the political forces are willing to agree to a legislative arrangement that no settlement will be allowed in a burnt area.

Mr. Tzoumakas said that during his tours during his contacts with district officials, he received complaints that their proposals do not reach the top of the party, to emphasize that “we need the organizations, NE, the regional organizations, and that the whole of SYRIZA should do politics, not a sector and some comrades with their statements in the media”. He added that his basic principle is the autonomy of politics against entanglement, that he is in favor of political autonomy and the possibility of each party to define its identity. “I’m in favor of political unity on principle.” We need a progressive exit strategy from the crisis that creates reasonable expectations for the implementation of development policies.”