Nikos Pappas denounced organized thuggery at the start of his speech at the SYRIZA Congress.

Afterwards, while delegates close to Stefanos Kasselakis shouted, Nikos Pappas said that the party will be protected from “the organized wretchedness towards history”. Addressing those who were shouting, he said that “those who think that this place does not have the stamina and history and the executives to protect it and that it is not the one that gave birth to the great political change of 2015, let the residents know that we will take the decisions and we will raise a shield of protection for the progressive world. I want to address those who think they are going to bully me.

The naysayers are in vain, more powerful systems have tried to bring us to our knees.

We have all caught up and experienced tensions, we have never seen this before in the party.

It is clear what the source of the unrest is. We address those who organize this type of plans and tell them that they are in vain. In the period that some people want to slander, the period 2015-2019, whoever slanders her will find us opposite. When the indignant movement broke out we were the only party that did not move against popular anger, embraced it and finally expressed it.

He then said:

-32% of 2019 was a loan. Which we didn’t take advantage of. Beyond the organizational issues we left unfinished, in 2019 – 2023 we were nervous. […] We also gave a blank check to the government of N.D. in relation to the pandemic, with “we would put them”. No collective decision. […] We did not reason, not even among ourselves, why and for whom we were collecting such a large “pillow”.

-I will openly state my opinion as I must. I will live up to what I perceive to be a debt, which arises from the position of responsibility in which I serve.

Point one: You don’t respond to mistakes with pre-decided disagreements or inflammatory statements in the media, but in the institutions and in a collective way.

Point two: SYRIZA’s finances were and are crystal clear. Other parties have – with evidence – been accused of black funds.

Point three: We have experienced many major conflicts and even when our paths parted, it was done in a political and not divisive manner.

Point four: SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance is a single and multi-talented party, with a single and indivisible membership register. It doesn’t belong to any of us. We belong to SYRIZA. It’s not mine, it’s not the secretary’s, it’s not the MPs’, it’s not the executives’. SYRIZA does not belong to us, we belong to SYRIZA.

In closing he said:

– The scenarios for new parties, heard or written by various parties, are the joy of the system. We have a party. We will strengthen it, strengthen it, expand it.

– The scenarios of new competitive parties will find us strongly opposite. Anyone who dares to deprive SYRIZA of the position of official opposition will bear a historical stigma. An absolute political disgrace.

-We have the initiative in the necessary progressive convergences. Our amendment for the job rehabilitation of seasonal firefighters has the support of PASOK, Plefsis Eleftherias, and New Left.

-Two conditions. First: We are fighting historical revisionism. Second: The grand progressive alliance.