A major disruption within the SYRIZA Progressive Alliance was triggered by the news of Eyaggelos Apostolakis’ decision to leave the party. The admiral’s move took both the party’s new chairman, Socrates Famellos, and the natural leader of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, by surprise, as he announced his intentions late yesterday afternoon.

The Timeline

Although Apostolakis has been absent for the past few days on a parliamentary mission to Canada, however the change of baton at Koumoundourou found him abroad and unresponsive to repeated calls from SYRIZA headquarters to clarify his plans.

Although he reportedly returned to the country the day before yesterday, Wednesday, he had not given “signs of life” to the new party leadership despite concerted efforts to contact him.

On the contrary, in a surprise move, he made his independence known in a statement yesterday, saying, among other things, that “what happened recently belied my expectations as democratic processes were subjugated to practices that harken back to moments of the past that we all want to forget.”

Abstolakis’ statement:

“In 2023 I accepted the proposal of SY.R.ZA. What has happened recently has belied my expectations as democratic processes have been subjugated to practices that harken back to moments in the past that we all want to forget.

Having served my country from high positions of responsibility and knowing full well what “responsibility”, “conscience” and “honor” mean, I cannot be in a party that operates in this way. Besides, I am sure that the majority of those who voted for it share this attitude of mine.

My decision to remain an independent MP and to retain my seat is perfectly in line with my obligation to the people and to democracy. The institution of the State Deputy ensures the overall representation of society and not petty party balances. Therefore, it is my duty to continue to work with ethics, transparency and commitment to the national interest, unaffected by petty party considerations.”

Background

However, the MP had made no secret that he was wavering on his stance ahead of the party’s internal elections and especially after the withdrawal of Stefanos Kasselakis at the extraordinary congress, describing in a public statement a few days before that “it is known that I am currently in the Greek parliament as a deputy of state, at the personal invitation of former President Alexis Tsipras, with whom I worked with, from my positions of responsibility, in difficult times for the country. I rallied with him with determination and consistency, because I wanted to contribute to a sound plan for the future of Greece and the reconstruction of the progressive/democratic party”. “That is why I am still here and, before I make my personal decisions, I am waiting to hear from him,” the admiral then concluded, reportedly to talk with Alexis Tsipras in the days to come.

Specifically, admiral Apostolakis called the former prime minister on the phone on his initiative, and then Tsipras reportedly conveyed to him in an absolute manner his position especially as an appointed MP when he disagreed with the party that elected him resigned, leaving the seat that neither politically nor morally belongs to him. “He listened to advice from others,” the same sources noted meaningfully, not hiding their displeasure at the turn of events.

It is, after all, no common secret that the glass between Alexis Tsipras and the Member of State of SYRIZA PS, who was placed by the former prime minister in the second – and therefore electable – position had cracked long before when Mr. Apostolakis had accepted the post of Civil Protection Minister for… five hours until he was told that his potential participation in the current Mitsotakis government was… casus belli.

In this light, the… “bis hamartin” interprets the angry tones on the part of the former prime minister, whose circles reacted instantly yesterday, when all the leading members of SYRIZA were attending the presentation of the new book by academic and former Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, when they were shocked to learn of the admiral’s independence.

Moreover, for top Syriza officials, it is incomprehensible that the side of Stefanos Kasselakis demanded that Popi Tsapanidou and the other State deputies resign from the seat after the departure of Othonos Iliopoulos because it belonged to the party, an argument, however, that does not seem to be invoked in the case of State deputy Apostolakis.

Tête a tete-a-tete between Famellos and Apostolakis

With Koumoundourou meanwhile ignoring the traces of the admiral, the climax of the “drama” came when suddenly early yesterday afternoon at an event of the SFEA in the Old Parliament, the new president of SYRIZA, Socrates Famellos and the party’s then MP for State, Evangelos Apostolakis, coincided at the same event, without having previously communicated.

At the same time, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, at the same time of the press conference, at the same time of the announcement.

At the same time, on the same day of the press conference.
According to SYRIZA sources, Famellos, who has been meeting with all members of the parliamentary group for days (as he did yesterday with Elena Akrita), asked Apostolakis why he had not responded to the messages he had received from the party in the previous period. For his part, Apostolakis refrained from responding, according to the same sources. He did not inform the SYRIZA president of his intentions and shortly afterward announced his departure.

Mr. Apostolakis was to become independent, according to reliable information, this morning, but it seems that the acceleration of the procedures was caused by the intense activity yesterday around Koumoundourou, as Socrates Famellos visited Alexis Tsipras’ office shortly after the Fthiotida MP’s independence, Giannis Sarakiotis, while the “whole SYRIZA” was present at the presentation of the book by Nikos Kotzias, as there were, apart from Alexis Tsipras and Socrates Famellos, MPs, executives and personalities from SYRIZA, “Pratto” and the New Left, such as:

Some of the members of the Greek Parliament, such as.

• – Olga Gerovassili,
• – Olga Gerovassili.
• – Nikos Pappas
• – Pavlos Polakis
• – Katerina Notopoulou
• – Rania Svigou
• – Simeon Kedikoglou
• – Dionysis Kalamatianos
• – Christos Spirtzis
• – Yannis Ragousis
• – Marina Kontotoli
• – Tryphon Alexiadis
• – Thanasis Theocharopoulos
• – Kostas Zacharias
• – Giannis Boulekos
• – Stefanos Tzoumakas
• • – Sia Anagnostopoulou
  • – Kostas Poulakis
  • – George StathakisAnd from the New Left:

  Kotzias’ Message

  Former Foreign Minister, Nikos Kotzias gave a warm greeting to former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, exchanging an interesting rhyme.

  “I would also like to thank the former president of SYRIZA. Actually, not former, former, now,” Kotzias said, with Tsipras responding mockingly, “Let the former…”.

  The former Foreign Minister then referred to the domestic political situation, saying in his speech that “with Pratto we want to contribute to the creation of a forum of personalities. And this concerns the new president of SYRIZA and the comrades of the New Left,” adding that “we are not enough, we have small forces. But we need an alternative plan for the country,” a few hours after Tsipras conveyed in his meeting with Socrates Famellos that he would be present in every effort of SYRIZA to make the progressive party the protagonist of developments.