I am saddened by what is happening in SYRIZAin essence, Alexis Tsipras is calling for new elections and he sees the same problem as all of us, pointed out Gabriel Sakellaridis speaking to ERTNEWS and Apostolos Maggiriadis shortly after the announcement of his return to active politics after 8 years.

Still among other things he said that SYRIZA is a “black hole” that sucks the dignity of the world of the Left.

He stated that his statement about returning to his political home is completely conscious, as is his joining the New Left. “A move I make with pride, a move I make because I deeply believe in it” he underlined.

“It doesn’t mean that a party is your political home, because that’s the brand name, the name, the logo, the building” he emphasized and added that “and when you decide where you will join, what you will feel as your political home has to do and with the views, the policies, the reliability, the seriousness, the people that make it up. Therefore, my position yesterday was completely conscious, as was my joining the New Left. A move I make with pride, a move I make because I believe deeply, obviously to enter politics after nine years is something I felt the need to express myself, to agree. I haven’t logged in all of the previous time[…] I obviously didn’t feel like it was a political space in which I could be active and contribute.”

“But because you asked me and obviously I fully understand the journalistic interest in what is happening in SYRIZA, I want to be very careful because there is a process going on and I don’t want to play it as a general political commentator. But I can’t help but tell you that the developments that are happening at the moment in SYRIZA obviously sadden me and give me other mixed feelings if you want, but sadness is the main feeling, because at the moment I have the feeling with all that we are watching , especially in the last week, which we have been following more or less for a very long time, but in the last week I think they have gone even beyond what was expected, is that SYRIZA is actually at the moment a “black hole”, a black hole that it really sucks political forces, which sucks people, which sucks positions, which if you want also sucks the dignity of the world of the Left and the KE and its energy to contribute to the public, to public policy”.

For the intervention of Alexis Tsipras he said that “I think it completely confirms everything I’m telling you.”

As he said five months after the election of Mr. Kasselakis to the presidency of the party, in essence Alexis Tsipras calls for re-election. He added that “and all his documentation in his statement actually says that there is a very, very serious structural problem in SYRIZA, which was diagnosed early on by the people who left SYRIZA and built the New Left. I was not one of them. Therefore I did not leave and I have the luxury of saying so from my own side. And in fact it confirms the correctness of their decision. Because I disagree with what Alexis Tsipras says that they should not have left.”

“When a man like Alexis Tsipras, five months after the election of Stefanos Kasselakis, says that there should be another election for the presidency of SYRIZA, I certainly think that he sees the same problem that we all saw,” he emphasized.

As for whether he will be a candidate in the European elections, he replied: “I think I can easily answer this by telling you that it is a decision that will be taken at a collective level and everything will be announced in a coordinated way.”

“I came back because I really want to contribute[…] I’m not coming back because I’ve missed being on TV and having a nice conversation over here, I haven’t come back because I’ve missed the party life or all that stuff. I could tell you the opposite. This is the hard part. I keep coming back for two reasons.
First of all, because I too feel a great need to join my voice with other people in society, who face very serious real problems in their daily lives and at the same time see with embarrassment a government dominance and a discredit on the Left. And the second reason is that I feel that there is a political body with the people, with the positions, with the credibility, with the seriousness, with the radicalism and it can potentially become the catalyst for political developments in the country. And this is something I believe very much about the New Left.”

For Petros Kokkalis, the Kosmos movement and the possibility of cooperation in view of the European elections, he said “look, I’ve been in the New Left for less than a day. Personally, I respect and appreciate Petros Kokkalis.

He has had an excellent career as an MEP and has also honored our former party, but he has also been an excellent MEP in general. My personal opinion, I would very much like it, but this is something that will be expressed through the New Left.”

“What I want to tell you from my side is that the New Left, what is important and obliged to do – because it has a debt, no one from the New Left owes it, this party owes to Greek society – is to be able to pick up the gauntlet, the gauntlet which is actually falling due to the general discrediting of the political system and the fact that a great deal of embarrassment has been born in Greek society towards the government. The fact that there is no strong opposition, that there is no credible opposition, that there is no potential opponent to Mr. Mitsotakis and the government today is something that is a problem, I could say a problem for the political system and it is the responsibility and debt of the new Left to provide a solution”.