joint appearances even in an institutional context, but at any rate more disengaged than in the past, are now increasingly frequent between PASOK and SYRIZA Progressive Alliance executives, while Koumoundourou is firmly insisting on a common pace for the Presidency of the Republic.
With the legacy of the successful cooperation of the progressive forces in the municipality of Athens, the President of SYRIZA PS, Socrates Famellos, was at Kotzias Square yesterday, sending multiple messages in different directions, in the wake of his meeting with the Mayor of the city, Harris Doukas.
At the same time, he fired back at the government, “in Athens, progressive cooperation has overturned right-wing politics,” said Famellos, who also focused on the importance of local government. At the same time, however, “we are particularly interested in the project in the Municipality of Athens, we will follow it, we will be there for it, we will support it so that we can have better results all the time,” concluded Mr. Famellos, while the request for a joint candidacy from the progressive sector was reiterated yesterday by SYRIZA’s Press Spokesman, George Karameros.
“SYRIZA-PS proposes a joint candidacy of the progressive space. Not just a candidacy of the progressive space, but a joint candidacy of the progressive space. Our proposal is public. Our proposal is addressed to PASOK and the New Left in principle,” Karameros noted, leaving open the possibility of a PASOK candidate from the entire progressive spectrum.
Much more so, when the coexistence between the two parties is expected to be continued on Friday 17 January by PASOK MP Pavlos Geroulanos and SYRIZA MEP Nicolas Farantouris, who will participate in a joint event on the Development Fund funds.
Specifically, the event is organized at the initiative of Nicolas Farantouris, Member of the Budget Committee of the European Parliament, on the topic “The Recovery Fund funds in Greece: Conclusions and use of resources”. “The discussion will focus on the use of the funds so far, the next opportunities for their utilization that should not be missed, and the need for transparency, accountability, and fairness in the management of European funds, a key issue for our country,” according to the organizers. Even more interesting is the fact that the event will present the study of the Institute of Alternative Policies ENA, which was prepared in cooperation with the Office of MEP Nicolas Farantouris, as this Institute is the “child” of Yiannis Dragasakis, a historical figure in the field.
The progressive meetings, however, do not stop here, as a week later a new osmosis between SYRIZA PS and PASOK executives is expected to be caused by the presentation of the new book by Antonis Kotsakas and Harris Tsiokas, in Ioannina. Moreover, the presence of the Vice President of the Parliament, Olga Gerovassili, the deputy of the New Left, Meropi Tzoufi, and Dionysis Tebonera in the same panel is another expression of the mobility outside and outside SYRIZA PS, especially when the issue of the coalition of progressive forces comes back at every opportunity.
Even the most optimistic in Koumoundourou, however, do not ignore that the progressive landscape in 2025 will be shaped by the choices that Charilaou Trikoupis will be called upon to make with the Presidential Palace as a backdrop, as many SYRIZA PC executives observe. This is because Koumoundourou believes that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will seek to send out a message of consensus focusing on the person he will nominate for the Presidency of the Republic, intensifying the flirtation with PASOK.
In such a prospect, SYRIZA PS’s insistence on a “joint candidacy of the progressive space” is aimed at exposing PASOK in the eyes of progressive voters, in case Harilaou Trikoupis agrees to vote for the person proposed by Mitsotakis, leaving SYRIZA alone, but empowered, in front of the progressive audience.
It is no coincidence that PASOK is “deserving”, SYRIZA’s Parliamentary Spokesman of the SYRIZA PA, Nikos Pappas, told Parapolitika FM yesterday, noting that Harilaou Trikoupis is on a trajectory of convergence with the New Democracy Party on the issue of the Constitution and Demographics. Asked also about the Presidency of the Republic, “We will have our proposal in the next 24 hours. It would be desirable for the democratic progressive forces to converge on one person,” Nikos Pappas said, describing the new President as a political person with a heavy resume from the Progressive party.
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