The departure of Yiannis Dragasakis overshadows today’s proceedings – “The current leadership is murdering politicians,” emphasized former minister Yiannis Mouzalas.
The SYRIZA Progressive Alliance is not only in a summer frenzy due to the internal party processes ahead of the Statutory Congress in the middle of a heatwave but also because of the intensifying flirtation of the President of SYRIZA PS, Stefanos Kasselakis, with Harilaou Trikoupi. Despite the heavy insinuations that Mr. Kasselakis has unleashed in the past against the President of PASOK-KINAL, Nikos Androulakis, referring to a “blackmailed” President, the address “Dear Nikos” in the post of the President of SYRIZA PS for a joint initiative for the missing persons of the Cyprus tragedy was revealing of the new strategy of the official opposition.
In this direction, the leadership of SYRIZA PS extends a hand of friendship to Nikos Androulakis, while the Press Representative of SYRIZA PS, Voula Kehagia, emphasized yesterday that “Stefanos Kasselakis addressed PASOK president Nikos Androulakis yesterday and after congratulating him on the excellent initiative to meet Harita Mantoles in Cyprus, he invited him to raise the issue of missing persons with the Eurosocialists on behalf of PASOK. “The president of PASOK responded to the post of the president of SYRIZA,” explained Mrs. Kehagia, adding that “it is fortunate that Mr. Androulakis responded.”
However, the climate inside SYRIZA PS has remained rather unhappy since the departure of Yannis Dragasakis. The party’s spokesperson defended the party’s “farewell” announcement, saying, “We respect the history of Mr. Dragasakis. Mr. Dragasakis has honored SYRIZA, and SYRIZA has also honored him by giving him senior government positions. As I have already said, Mr. Dragasakis made an absolutely destructive criticism, therefore SYRIZA must also defend its policies. That’s what the announcement did.”
However, the departure of Yiannis Dragasakis overshadows today’s proceedings as the Secretariat of the Central Organizing Committee of the Conference meets, and the Parliamentary Group will follow on Thursday. The voices of dissent against Stefanos Kasselakis are growing louder and now also include other officials.
Direct Challenge from Mouzalas
Speaking yesterday on Attica TV, former minister and member of the “Pappas team” (a close associate of former Minister Nikos Pappas), Yiannis Mouzalas openly raised the issue of leadership at the conference, sharply criticizing Stefanos Kasselakis for a series of decisions.
In a lengthy statement, “For politics, when it escapes from the framework of bureaucracy, a dynamic is needed. The dynamics that I propose are all our comrades, the friends of SYRIZA, the progressive people who were disappointed and who are often justified by the SYRIZA PS who lost,” described the former Minister. He attributed to Mr. Kasselakis the loss of “40% of the voters he had.” Mr. Mouzalas invited party members “to come to SYRIZA and through the processes of SYRIZA, with the dynamics of their opinions, to lead to changes. In my opinion, these changes also require a change of leadership,” he said.
Direct Challenge to Kasselakis from G. Mouzalas: The Leadership Issue Must Be Raised at the Conference
Kasselakis Rather Divisive
“I assert that Mr. Kasselakis, whom we supported with the best of intentions, was measured and proved to be incomplete, divisive, and not trying to compose. A party President is not happy when people leave his party. A President of a party in power must form opinions, must keep people in, bring people in. He cannot be happy that Dragasakis is leaving,” continued the former Minister, commenting on the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Tsipras government, Yannis Dragasakis, that “each departure of people like Dragasakis makes the area from which they leave poorer. No matter how many years he stayed, because he was one of those who built this space, he made us richer.” “This space is made even poorer by the way the current leadership of SYRIZA dealt with the departure of Mr. Dragasakis. It is unthinkable that Mr. Kasselakis is trying to say about Mr. Dragasakis that the Left is not a type, it is a way of life. I mean, for God’s sake! Someone protect him from what he says,” he added.
“The Current Leadership is not working for Politicians”
In fact, “I was not always friendly with Giannis, we had disagreements, but he is a man about whom no one ever dared to say anything,” Yannis Mouzalas revealed about Mr. Dragasakis, considering that “here, unfortunately, we have a leadership that is destroying the party.”
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