The work of the third day of the 4th Congress of SYRIZA-PS continues with the appointment of delegates, with the officials of the official opposition presenting their views on the future of the party, but also on issues of identity, in view of the crucial speech of Olga Gerovasilis later afternoon.

Stelios Pappas: We have no reason to go into the process of electing a new president. The president was badly stung

“Whoever thinks he can put the party into a civil war, I’m afraid the party doesn’t hurt him. The agenda of the party congress was changed without even a proposal being officially submitted to the pre-congress dialogue or to the Congress. Proposals are not submitted on social media, but here. In my opinion, there is no proposal and the president was wrong and we entered into a logic of tensions. Anyone who thinks they have a proposal should take it down and observe the Statute which says that in order to go to such elections certain procedures are needed. We cannot afford to do such things, we need calmness and a synthetic process,” said Stelios Pappas.

He argued that the president “has the first responsibility to take the initiative to end this story.” He submitted the following proposal: “It is obvious that all executives must be utilized, we have no reason to go to procedures for electing a new president. Second, the president must immediately call on all comrades and those who disagree to join together in the new election process for the European Parliament. Thirdly, because the list of the European Parliament has a procedure which we are obliged to decide on, there is also another procedure for the election of a candidate of the European Left for the position of the Commission. My proposal is therefore that our congress proposes to the Party of the European Left that Comrade Tsipras be the candidate of the Left for the position of the Commission”.

He said that there is the possibility for other synthetic proposals so that we can move towards a decent perspective for the European elections. “We have no possibility of plunging the party into civil war again and we will all be responsible. Comrade Kasselakis needs to take the initiative as soon as possible to end this issue,” he said.

Petros Pappas: The most extreme moment of the lineup

“SYRIZA-PS is at a crossroads, we are at the most extreme moment of the faction,” said MP Petros Pappas and added: “Five months after the election of Stefanos Kasselakis, we are on the verge of a major introversion. A new president who is untested and has not lost any electoral battle, a body of 150,000 voters is openly challenged. What is the vision of those who question him? The return to the party of trends and captains, the return to the party of defeat, to the party of executives who do not have labor badges, to the party of comrade-stabbing. Or is it a return to party orthodoxy and the party of the 3%? This may be the last congress of SYRIZA or SYRIZA as we know it to this day. We want to be the main mouthpiece of the Center Left. We want and can put an end to introversion and factionalism.”

In closing, he asserted that “after the Congress and the election of a new president, I hope that a new party will emerge, a new center-left faction that will claim and win the government of the country in 2027”.

Kostas Arvanitis: We are all here together, otherwise we will have historical responsibilities. This is our home, this is SYRIZA

“How nice that Comrade Pappas said it, how nice. But let me remind you, comrade, that the party’s opinion is no to private universities, so personal agendas at an end”, commented Kostas Arvanitis, taking the floor afterwards, addressing Petros Pappas who had preceded him. “The president talked about the Left, he didn’t talk about the Center-Left. Those who want to go to the Center-Left should go and meet Mr. Androulakis”, he commented.

“I am consciously a member of SYRIZA, a simple tool, the party sent me to the European Parliament with the people. The seat belongs to SYRIZA-PS. If I can’t express the party, the seat goes back to the party. This party we dreamed of, our big house, with its symbols, its flags and its history,” said the MEP. “The house is open not closed, not to leave the old groups and factions and create new groups and factions and new leaders and new ‘presidents'”, he commented. He thanked Stefanos Kasselakis for the honor of referring to him personally in his opening speech, noting that “but it was a collective work for the rule of law”. “So we are going collectively”, he emphasized.

He said that “the Left has always been patriotic.” “Yes, we are the Left, the modern Left, which can listen, compose, but if you can’t compose in your own party, how will you compose in society?”, he commented. “I’m proud of the party and its history and its processes, I’m proud that we worked together with Alexis Tsipras and he gave us a vision of what the modern Left is and Alexis is here, that’s why we’re here, to continue together for the overthrow, not only of Mitsotakis who is on shift, but of the right-wing politics that comes hard with a far-right agenda”. He said that “in the European Parliament we fought and won on labor issues, we brought the European minimum wage, we did this, we brought the opinion on artificial intelligence, on the right to disconnect, we brought forward the issues of disabled people for equality and visibility. It was SYRIZA-PS, it wasn’t the other ‘progressive’ so-called forces, it wasn’t PASOK-Elia, it wasn’t the KKE”. He noted that we in the Left are the beacon that guides the developments in the modern left, not chowder in a social-democratic soup, nor in strange logics. Mr. Arvanitis thanked Maria Vlachou “and all the mothers of the 57 people who perished in Tempi”, underlining that “we will continue until justice is given for the people who perish from the politics of the Right’s corruption”. “We are all here together and the president together and those who will enter the claim process, together, otherwise we will have historical responsibilities. This is our home, this is SYRIZA,” he stressed.