“PASOK must defend and highlight all its historical contributions, self-critically recognizing all its responsibilities, starting from the end, from its struggle to save the country from the risk of unorganized economic, social and institutional bankruptcy and exiting the euro, Europe and liberal democracy”he underlined the Evangelos Venizelos in his greeting for the 50th anniversary of the Founding Declaration of PASOK, in Zappeion.

He added that “the curve of PASOK is the curve of Post-colonization. Celebrating fifty years of PASOK, we are celebrating fifty years of Postcolonialism as a period. We celebrate them with a fair evaluation of the positives and negatives, with reflection, with an eye to the future”.

Evangelos Venizelos emphasized that the declaration of September 3 was the proposal of national, social and political radicalism that shaped the political and social climate, the priorities and the aesthetics of the Postcolonial period until the explosion of the economic crisis. It was a response to the challenge of History at the opening moment of the Post-Revolution. It was the proposal of an ambitious political and social redistribution. A proposal for the Postcolonial social contract.

Regarding today’s challenges, he underlined how “it must reappear proposing a new social contract. Proposing a comprehensive plan for the country. Believing that he can capture it programmatically and implement it governmentally. No phobias about individual reactions, no heterodeterminations, offsetting neutralities and equal distances.”

The former president of PASOK pointed out how the pursuit of increasing rates must be turned into a strategy of political hegemony. “However, this presupposes this integrated plan for the country that responds to the anxieties of a society of risk and insecurity. PASOK honors its history, but it is not the party of nostalgia, it must be the party of the future,” added Evangelos Venizelos. He proposed to address the national audience with a proposal that is both a narrative and a coordinated sequence of practical movements:

• respecting and upgrading the institutions of democracy and the rule of law

• social inclusion and not just cohesion

• functional and efficient state

• competitive and resilient economy

• growth dividend for all

• A national strategy that understands how historical time works. The fronts of the last fifty years are deep down the pending issues of the last two hundred years, as they concern national integration and security, but also European and Western identity.

As he said this would be the essential celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of its establishment and the real update of the Declaration of September 3rd. “Of course, the completion of the internal party process with a commitment to unity and recruitment, with honest and straightforward political and programmatic speech, without many stereotypes, platitudes and generalities, with political culture and a sense of institutionality, is of priority. With a factional consciousness, but mainly with a consciousness of responsibility towards the motherland for the sake of which the parties exist and function as institutions of the democratic state”, he said.

He also reviewed PASOK’s 50-year history, focusing on the three challenges of its government periods and the formulation of the national strategy.