The president of SYRIZA, Sokratis Famellos, launched an attack on the government and the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in his first speech to the party’s Central Committee after his election.

He also lashed out at the president of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, and repeated the appeal to everyone to return to SYRIZA and enlist.

Mr. Famellos wanted to send the message that SYRIZA “is standing again, strong, united and returning to politics, but it also has more stubbornness, it will be the official opposition outside and inside the Parliament”.

At the beginning of his speech he said: “… We are leaving behind toxicity, sadness, introversion, division. The mandate given to us by the people is to be the official opposition and to be the alternative government of tomorrow, we are the opponent of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the system that supports him. This is what they are afraid of and they have fallen free and bound to lose the position of official opposition”.

As the president of SYRIZA-PS noted, the reality emphatically refutes Mr. Mitsotakis who says that everyday life is improving. “Citizens are worried about their living conditions and in the middle of it all they have a government celebrating a tax cut when the budget foresees an increase of 2.5 billion. euros, the 1.5 billion from indirect taxation. It imposes 700 million euro taxes on small and medium-sized enterprises. The government is covering up the profiteering,” he explained.

Spikes against Androulakis

Leaving spikes against PASOK and Mr. Androulakis emphasized that “society does not need a consensual and painless opposition to the government. There is no need for an opposition to tango when the government pursues policies at the expense of popular interests. In the debate about the excess profits of the banks it turned out that the belated proposal of Mr. Androulaki is very small in front of super profits, only 250 million out of 4.5 billion. I also publicly posed the question to Mr. Androulakis, if there is a line of consent with Mr. Mitsotakis, because this is exactly the message their recent meeting sent out. The president of PASOK could simply deny it.”

Next, he described the brand of SYRIZA: “We are committed. A strong SYRIZA-PS will never be the convenient opposition to a right-wing anti-people government, which harms the interests of society, which brings about widespread impoverishment, which violates the rule of law and which is involved in the dozens of scandals that see the light of day, which do not has still provided answers to the wiretapping scandal and the Tempe crime.”

Speaking about the position of party chairman, Mr. Famellos pointed out: “I assume the responsibility to serve unity, companionship and the single word. But also to correct the mistakes of the recent past”. He directed his fire against Stefanos Kasselakis and the MPs who left, underlining: “SYRIZA is here against the plans to dissolve and waste it by extra-institutional centers. The anti-SYRIZA rhetoric, from Mati to the referendum and capital controls, no matter how much some dark interests want to bring it back to the news, using even willing MPs elected with our ballots, no longer has a counter. And however much some may try to falsify the popular mandate, SYRIZA Progressive Alliance is and will be the real official opposition of the country.”

“We invite all those who left the army and were disappointed to return to our party. We are sending an invitation and an exhortation to everyone who believes that SYRIZA-PS is the political answer required to be given to the right,” he added.

He welcomed the officials who returned, saying: “Already, at the meeting of the Political Secretariat, we were informed about the willingness of comrades Vassiliadis and Spirtzis to participate. I am happy for their presence and I welcome comrades of the Central Committee who had distanced themselves organizationally and are attending our meeting today, Stefanos Tzoumakas, Dionysis Tebonera, Andreas Michaelidis, Andreas Nefeloudis, Vlassis Tsioga, Stavros Arachovitis. And many, many others from all over Greece.”

Furthermore, the president of SYRIZA-PS described the next steps of the party: “At the next Central Committee in January we will formulate a broad proposal of organs for our conference. At the Central Committee in January we will plan and decide on the organization of the spring statutory conference, which will also be the restart conference.

Referring to the party media, he noted: “Our first priority was the payment of accruals. Solutions have been launched and I have been informed that the justified strike actions will stop on Monday and within the week the cooperation with the representatives of the workers will continue”.

“Only a strong SYRIZA can play a leading and essential role and for the cooperation of progressive forces. And about the progressive plan for the country. This is our identity. We are not a protest party. We are a governing force with vision, plan and proposals. And now is the time for conscription and not entrenchment”, concluded Mr. Famous.