In his speech at the meeting of the parliamentary group on Friday morning, President of PASOK Evangelos Venizelos referred to the conclusions to be drawn based on the electoral results after May 25.

Mr. Venizelos stressed that the upcoming elections are not national, they are European and local, suggesting thus that the possibility of direct political developments is slight. More specifically, he underlined that he never talked about numbers and percentages and that he only referred to the combined effect of local and European elections. He said that society’s ultimate political feeling is very important and added that he never said PASOK would leave the government, adding that the government exists because PASOK raised the issue of a cooperation of the political forces. He also stressed that “the minister withdrawal scenario is ludicrous.”

Referring to criticisms he received, he noted that “those were made by smart Alecs, who are all words and no actions.” He divided his accusers into three categories:
– Those who say they appreciate PASOK’s attitude, claim they are Democrats but are New Democracy voters
– Those who clarify that they want stability, who can understand that without PASOK there can be no government, but they want nothing to do with PASOK, as they believe this approach is more chic or “comme il faut”
– Those who say “We support PASOK, but we don’t like Venizelos” and who argue that “we want PASOK to have poor results in the election, so that we’ll get a chance to arrange our internal issues.”

Talking about the post-election phase within PASOK party, Evangelos Venizelos stressed that there that can be very large overruns. Addressing the members of the parliamentary group of PASOK he said: “I just love
and appreciate you for all the efforts you have made.”