New field of tension in SYRIZA, this time between Sokratis Famellos and Pavlos Polakis with the return of Christos Spirtzis and Giorgos Vassiliadis to the Political Secretariat.

The disagreement was recorded during the meeting of the central committee of SYRIZA.

In an intervention, the members of the Central Committee who support Pavlos Polakis criticize the newly elected president of SYRIZA, stating that “from yesterday’s proposals of the president to the K.E., a picture of exclusions on the borders of the divisive section is visible”.

The entire intervention of the members of the Central Committee

After the turbulent previous period that hurt our party and its people on many levels, we have all declared ourselves present, from every position of responsibility but also as “soldiers” alone, on the side of the new leadership, to raise the our “home” (SYRIZA) at its feet and to make it attractive again to the people winterized by the anti-popular policies of the Right. And above all to highlight him as a vehicle for reversing the current situation in the country and for tomorrow’s progressive governance for the benefit of the many and national dignity! In this context, we fought personal and collective battles. At the same time, we proposed nationwide and at every level a political and programmatic framework that we consider as a condition for the affected classes to see us again as an allied force and to trust us again with their fortunes! At the same time and in order to effectively serve this goal, we also presented an organizational plan and above all a model of collective operation and co-responsibility, without exclusions, unnecessary rifts and introversion… In this climate we also welcomed the unifying move of the candidate president p. Pavlou Polakis not to run for the presidency on the second election Sunday and let’s all move forward together, without further delay!

In yesterday’s, first meeting of the Central Committee of the party after the presidential election, there may have been any mood from the new leadership at the level of rhetoric for consensus, collectivity, inclusion, accountability, but in practice, with the announcements of the first days until yesterday, but also yesterday’s proposals of the president to the K.E., a picture of exclusions on the borders of the divisive section emerges. This image only sends messages of disappointment and demobilization within the party and to a number of its executives, from the very first days of the new venture! The feeling yesterday was as if some people want to quickly forget that internal party elections were held, with non-confrontational, but at least distinct political and programmatic frameworks, but also distinct ways of how we broadcast them to the world… and that against them was placed the basis of party in almost equal percentages!

The culmination of this unpleasant feeling, and indeed in the context of a general invitation to the recovery of members and executives who had moved away or distanced themselves from our party, was the president’s proposal for approval by the K.E. of the re-admission of two (!) executives to the party’s bodies and even to the roles and positions of responsibility they held when they resigned or were removed! And in fact this should be clarified in an imperative and rigid manner from the official lips of the president in the afternoon, half an hour before the end of the meeting. Despite the fact that throughout the meeting and the speeches it had been requested by many members of the K.E. in their speeches, either that this does not happen as an imposed cut from above (which does not respect the body and the collective and consensual function that the party needs today), or above all, if it is to be done, that it be accompanied by a brave decision to expand of the top body of the Political Secretariat with 3-4 more staff who can help at this level. It should be noted that P.G. after the departures of the previous period, it operates with a number of members less than half of its original composition! Finally, it was explained and requested by members of the K.E. that any reinstatement of executives to previous roles, because it concerns individual and specific persons, as is customary in our party, can only happen with a secret ballot in the K.E. and given the possibility for the other members to propose or nominate themselves and claim the same role and the same position of political responsibility!

At this point, let us make it clear that we do not object to the persons, motivations and abilities of the executives who returned to the active activity of the party… We simply do not consider it a good start and we are concerned about the first sample of writing that the new leadership issued yesterday. We note that after a relevant publication of “Avgi” the previous day, these decisions were announced! That is why we clearly stated our objections from the beginning of the meeting and asked for the matter to be clarified. After all, after the publication and the “rumours”, we received many protests from party members and executives from all over Greece about such a possibility and what this symbolizes for the new leadership for the next period…

We didn’t listen to them. And in fact, an approval procedure was advanced by a show of hands, shortly before the end of the meeting in the evening, and in fact by a body of minimal members of the Central Committee. who had remained in the room, since most had left to return to their regions across the territory. The result was the approval of the president’s proposal with abbreviated procedures and with a majority of 49 (!) members in favor against 19(!) members against… It should be noted that top executives also showed their embarrassment, objection or even dissatisfaction (such as Nikos Pappas who voted white). And all this for a replenishment or reassignment of some executives for 2-3 months at most! After that, and with coordinated procedures, we will go to a conference and election of new bodies. In other words, we don’t even consider it the most difficult thing for any leadership, for any operating model…

We are concerned by the difficulty, willy-nilly, that the new president showed yesterday in handling such a minor issue, which he could rather see as an opportunity to radiate consensus and inclusion! And in fact, justifying his attitude, the new president as a purely political and symbolic move and not an organizational arrangement… We avoid this being a structural element of the new leadership, which we all hoped would lead us to better days…

We wonder why the new president seeks to be judged in the next K.E. in January (as he requested) and not with the best opportunity he had yesterday and “kicked” it ostentatiously?

We wonder why, with yesterday’s attitude, he considers the readmission of 2 executives a political message and does not consider a political message an attitude of inclusion of the entire party, half of which (at least) do not see themselves in the presidential decisions to date?

We are upset by the thought that some people who resigned and spoke harsh words about the party, not only come back (we have no objection to this), but also, with a show of hands of 50 people, exclusively re-occupy their former position in the organs.