“Our first and main goal is for SYRIZA-PS to win the next national elections, says the Stefanos Kasselakis in an interview with the “Newspaper of the Editors”.

Its president SYRIZA PS he notes that until then “we must form the necessary social alliance that will bring us back to a winning position”. In response to a question about whether a way of understanding should be found with PASOK, he states that SYRIZA deeply believes in the need for cooperation and cooperation of all progressive forces and that it wants joint initiatives (Tempe, wiretapping, precision and obscene profit, social security and fair taxation, defense of democracy and the rule of law). He emphasizes that “this is how convergences are built, on the basis of political content and not rhetoric”, to comment that he hopes “the leadership of PASOK-KIN.ALL. to overcome its political rigidity and to prioritize the defense of society and democracy, instead of petty political goals”.

He emphasizes that the target for the European elections is SYRIZA-PS. to have such an effect “that will mark his return as a leading force of the left and progressive faction on the political scene”, “that will seal our reconstruction and give us the necessary impetus to rid the country of the government and the system of the Right as soon as possible”. He adds that the goals will be determined collectively “and collectively we will be judged on whether we achieve them or not. And I am the first, as the new president of the party.” “However, know that I did not enter the battle to lose,” he emphasizes.

Asked about the internal parties and if he considers that the cycle of departures from SYRIZA has been closed with the departure of “Umbrella”, Mr. Kasselakis underlines: “My wish is that we all build together a new “internal party coexistence pact” that strengthens the unity between us with rules respected by all and a common will for reliable public expression of the party”.

He adds that the conference decisions are the political matter of the unity and that at the same time it also needs unity, while he declares that he is determined to work for all of this as well as to utilize “all the executives who wish to work for the success of our collective goals”. “So I wish and hope that there will be no others who follow the example of “Umbrella”. In any case, each and every one will be judged by History based on their choices and decisions,” he emphasizes. In the same context, he states that he can and wants to co-exist with all those who wish to function as he described above in the context of the party.

Mr. Kasselakis was asked about the high tones of his protologue to the Central Committee, stating that “I demonstrated the hypocrisy and absurdity that characterized the works and days of the top executives of “Umbrella” before they left SYRIZA-PS.” and how “the same people who planned the split for a long time, attempted a character assassination from the first moment of my election…”. He adds that in addition to his burden, there is also the determination “to never again experience such cannibalistic and dissolving situations in SYRIZA-PS.”

“Political problems are not solved with insults, curses and personal attacks,” he says when asked about the exacerbation of intra-party tension due to toxicity on social media. He notes that this toxicity does not express him and that he wants any political differences to be resolved in an orderly manner in the party’s organs. He comments that “the future course of SYRIZA-P.S. it will not be judged by ‘civil wars’ on social media, but by how seriously and collectively we will work from tomorrow on the necessary reconstruction of our party and space”.

Mr. Kasselakis mentions that of course he has spoken with Alexis Tsipras and will continue to speak with him. “I ask and will always ask his opinion based on his rich experiences and political thinking. We have and will continue to have a relationship of mutual respect and mutual appreciation,” he adds.

With reference to internal party criticisms he received for his speech at SEV, the president of SYRIZA comments, among other things, that those who criticize isolate his reference to capital and stock options, “forgetting” the rest of his speech and the emphasis he placed “on the need respect and expansion of labor rights and the creation of good jobs with decent wages”. He adds that in the Economist he reiterated the party’s long-standing positions on jobs and fair, sustainable, inclusive growth. He comments that “those who have tried to present me as a neoliberal, in order to politically ‘justify’ the long-planned split they are implementing today, will fail miserably, because quite simply their opponent is reality” which is that he leads “a faction that wants and will fight to become a governing Left again, with its eyes and ears open to social needs, with a modern, efficient operation and with clear speech and programmatic positions”.

Regarding his position for an unmediated relationship with the people, the president of SYRIZA emphasizes that he wants “all of us to build together a party that will listen to society and will be attractive to the social majority”. He adds that “the need for unmediated contact and communication with the world does not concern only the president of the party, but all the executives of its organs…” and that “when this contact and interaction is lost, then we are unable to properly ‘read’ the social processes and therefore to correctly assess what we have to do. And that’s when we lose people’s trust.”