“Those who watched and had this opportunity, once the speech of Mr. Kasselakis was broadcast, would finally find out, some of what had been said in the previous days and weeks was little to describe what we saw. I think so I would say that there has never been a more abusive proposal to a leading body of a party of the Left.” With the above statement, Mr Panos Skourletis, former executive of SYRIZA-PScommented in an interview on First Programwhat was said through the mouth of the new party president at the Central Committee meeting the previous weekend.

“Honestly, I’m not just referring to the unprecedented reports of a 5th phalanx. The 5th phalanx is not a harsh criticism. It is something that goes beyond the limits of a confrontation, however harsh it may be. What, honestly, my friend and comrade Nikos Filis had said, and many had maligned him, about Trumpism, was finally confirmed. It was a Mussolini-inspired speech” continued Mr. Skourletis, pointing out that one can perceive that “this speech, its content and its aesthetics, is a foreign discourse to any version of the Left”.

In fact, Mr. Skourletis emphasized that this is sad, because it is being done in the name of the Coalition of the Radical Left. “That is to say, the sadness is great, not only personal, but I think also for the thousands of people who at times trusted, were critical, much more are members or executives of this space” he added.

Mr. Skourletis was strongly critical of the process of electing the president of the party under the conditions it was carried out.

“In the end it seems that this way of electing a president, without even the existence of any safety valve, where on election day, any Greek citizen, mind you, not a leftist, not a voter, any Greek citizen can determine who is the leader of a party of the radical and renewalist Left, it dissolves all coherence, all sense and liquidates every concept of party. It is the abolition of any necessary, there must be, relationship between the leadership and the members of a party,” he said characteristically.

“So what was done last year at the conference was completely wrong, strategic and pernicious” underlined Mr. Skourletis while noting “I just feel a bitter taste of satisfaction because I had said this publicly then”.

“So, one conclusion that one can draw is that if we want to have democratically structured parties, with compositions, with dialogue and not to have this unmediated Peronian relationship with the people, which reached the point where Mr. Kasselakis calls for people’s justice against him who had a different point of view, trampling on all sense of statutes, functions that only a year ago had been voted, in his extension this issue poses huge issues. It puts the right to whatever criticism someone who belongs to a party has, challenges it through referendums. It takes away your right. You can’t talk. These have nothing to do, I repeat, with any version, not a party of the Left, of the democratic arc. That is why you saw that other comrades finally arrive, who were not in the mood of the Umbrella that I belong to, I am referring to the text of the executives that is about Mrs. Ahtsioglou, talking even more harshly about Mr. Kasselakis” stressed the Mr. Skourletis.

In addition, he spoke of the great necessity of having a space of the renewing and radical left. “Today, in my opinion, with this violent mutation of SYRIZA towards an ultimately center-right, populist formation, which, from what we have seen and in its arguments against dissenters, adopts anti-SYRIZA arguments, we heard about the previous period, the arguments of the other side, the arguments of the ND, this is awesome, so the issue is whether this mutation objectively creates the terms and conditions for there to be an organized space that can now express the renewing and radical left in the new conditions. That’s where we have to start and I think that’s there. There is this necessity. Therefore, the processes of meeting forces that are now inside and outside SYRIZA-PS, but not only, must be activated”, emphasized Mr. Skourletis.

Regarding the time horizon of the creation of a new political body, Mr. Skourletis, stated the following. “I do not underestimate the milestone of the elections at all, because elections are related to what we call popular verdict, even if it is the European elections and any other elections. But from then on there is really a need not just to make moves so that a vehicle emerges to house some who left SYRIZA. Nor in any case would I say any new initiative should be Umbrella and some other executives. This is too little to be able to cover the great needs that exist and to be able to respond to the great challenges of our time.”

Regarding the former president of the party and whether he should have positioned himself around the developments, Mr. Skourletis, looking back on the recent past, noted
“I had said publicly between the first and second rounds, when he had finally allowed his name to be instrumentalized through his silence, that he had a moral and political obligation to speak. (…) I cannot explain it politically nor do I honestly have any inclination to interpret it. He was the president of the party for 15 years, a former prime minister. I will not advise him».

“Everyone, regardless of the position they had and held, has the obligation to intervene in the goings-on of the Left. No one is exempt. Much more so those who had the first, second, third and fourth reason. I see people right now who post on Facebook, send a letter, an email to their friends, just anonymous activists of the Left, who feel the need to speak, but from then on I can’t tell anyone what to do. he had to do at this moment at this level” said Mr. Skourletis, concluding.