The new President of the SYRIZA PS, Socrates Famellos, spoke of the “beginning of the reconstruction of our party, the opening of a new smiling chapter” in his maiden speech to the party’s parliamentary group.

With the aim of “the real opposition of the country as was the popular will and the popular verdict. This was also the demand of the society,” he said.

At the same time, the characteristics of the party in the coming period will be “presence, extroversion and proposals”, as Famellos announced, adding that “SYRIZA is here, standing.” “We are demanding as a real opposition that the government’s statements become work,” he said, in an indirect jab at PASOK, as “all of them are afraid of SYRIZA-P.S.because we are the only political force that can spoil their plans. That’s why they want us weak. But we won’t do them any favors. SYRIZA-P.S. is here, it is “alive”, more determined than ever,” he described.

“We leave behind everything that has traumatized us, nothing separates us,” the new party president asserted, at a time when SYRIZA “is tied to the values and ideals of the Left, to the struggles of the Left, and has as a legacy the government of the Left of Alexis Tsipras,” he remarked, adding that “this history cannot be erased by anyone and no one,” as he explained, saying that the “anti-SYRIZA” scenario is refuted.

However, “SYRIZA-P.S. will be the progressive government’s answer to the dystopia of right-wing politics,” Socrates Famellos argued, adding that “we are the force that must provide answers,” he noted.

For the President of the Hellenic Republic

Regarding the election of the President of the Hellenic Republic “we do not agree to a narrowly one-party choice”, he said, “especially looking towards the internal party issues” for the Southwest, he added. “Both the person and the choice of the president of the republic must have the basic elements that our Constitution calls for. That is, it must have the reflection the expression of the constitutional provisions of the Greek democracy. Today in our country many debates have been opened and there is evidence, our party has said so, of serious issues in the functioning of democracy and the rule of law, and these have become the subject of debate outside Greece. The person needs to have the required credibility for the post,” and made reference to Christos Ramos.

Under the new circumstances, “we cannot afford the luxury of inertia or introspection. It is a social necessity not a matter of our party’s survival, no,” the new President said. “With you in front of me, let’s hope that this reboot will become a reality” without exclusions throughout Greece from Sunday, he also said, addressing the deputies, to point out that “society is waiting for us, looking at us”.

At the same time, Socrates Famellos reiterated his call to “call back to SYRIZA those we have disappointed, those who were demobilized,” saying that “the key answer has been given” and is none other than the path of “the mass and renewed SYRIZA.”

For the immediate future, “we should talk again with the bodies representing society throughout Greece,” as the SYRIZA President defined, “learning from our mistakes, not looking backward,” he said, calling on MPs to be at the forefront, placing the completion of the party’s reconstruction at the Congress.

He referred to “memorandum policies” in the budget bill, which he called “unfair”. “Taxes have been increased in the budget,” the SYRIZA PS President said, stressing that taxes have been increased by 20 billion euros since 2021.

At the same time, “the tax mix of budget revenues has another problem. It has a much higher indirect tax rate instead of direct taxes, namely 55%, he explained, “all our proposals were and will be documented,” as the SYRIZA President made clear.

In the same vein, “Mr. Mitsotakis and the government have been trying in recent years to find excuses to hide. Mr. Mitsotakis and his government are responsible for accuracy and obscenity.” “It is the beginning of impoverishment,” he said.

“We have never said there should be no profits”

“We have never said there should be no profits,” but “what we disagree with is that there should be no oligopolies,” the new SYRIZA president described, recalling that SYRIZA “first of all” tabled a proposal to overtax super profits. “We are not saying it was the perfect proposal, but it was a basis for discussion.”

On the taxation of banks’ excess profits, “we will also take a position on this proposal,” Famelos said, saying that “we do not have the same approach as PASOK and Androulakis on the taxation of excess profits. And this is essentially what I am addressing today to the other parties, this discussion that we did not have in the end,” Famelos explained. “I can accept to discuss a bipartisan meeting, but it is different to talk about 200 million instead of 1.5 billion euros,” he remarked.

The “working poor”

Regarding the labor bill, the new President of SYRIZA PS criticized the government for new low-paid jobs that are not full-time, announcing its defeat. In this context, he referred to fai the phenomenon of “poor workers” even if they are on an up-to-average pay. We want the European acquis in the European conventions also at the level of workers’ wages, he stressed.

On the field of foreign policy, “the Mitsotakis government remains trapped and surrendered to the doctrine of the ‘given ally’ as an ‘outpost of the West’, avoiding any peace initiative,” Famelos outlined, calling on the government to put an end to this doctrine. We want there to be an initiative from the government both for the ceasefire and for the protection of all populations, the SYRIZA President said, calling on the government to recognize the Palestinian state. The President of SYRIZA PS announced that he is going to visit Cyprus next week and will be briefed by Foreign Minister Giorgios Gerapetritis.

On the climate crisis, extreme weather events are extreme, but we know that” he observed, criticizing the government for “communication fireworks”. He called it a “blank slate” in terms of staffing and operation of the Ministry of Civil Protection after five years. “Unfortunately, not only is it not missing, but it is dominated by obscenity,” the SYRIZA PS President commented, saying that addressing the climate crisis is one of the big issues of the next day, announcing an initiative for a National Resilience Plan.