Alexis Tsipras presented the founding declaration of the new political movement in Thiseio, describing the initiative as “the first step toward a new social majority” and, as he said, a “Compass for the New Greece.”

After the speech and the screening of the party’s promotional video, and at the end of the event, Mr. Tsipras received a small note from a little girl dressed in white.

The note revealed the party’s name: “ELAS – Hellenic Left Alliance.”

In the introduction to his speech, Alexis Tsipras said the initiative began with a demand repeatedly expressed to him by citizens in recent months.

“The big day has arrived. The waiting is over. For a long time, thousands of people in every corner of Greece have been telling us the same thing: ‘Do something!’ ‘Move forward!’ ‘Step up so we can believe again that something can change.’ ‘Don’t let the country sink any further.’ ‘Finally announce it!’” he said, adding: “Today we are here because we decided to respond to this call. Not out of ambition, but because we cannot stand by and watch a society suffocate.”

The former prime minister said the goal goes beyond merely changing who holds power. “Today we say goodbye to disappointment, inertia, and abstention. To the stereotype that nothing ever changes in this country. Today a new political force is born with the aim not only of political change, but of changing policy itself,” he said, summarizing the message with the phrase: “We are not only going for political change; we are going for a change in policy.”

A significant part of his remarks focused on international developments and the wider region. “We do not remain silent while bodies fall in Ukraine. We do not stay silent in the face of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza by the Netanyahu government. We cannot accept Israel’s bombings in Lebanon and the imposition by force of its own terms across the Middle East,” he said.

On domestic issues, Tsipras argued that the country is “constantly retreating and diverging from what was called the European acquis,” referring among other things to “wiretapping,” “corruption,” “Tempi,” “cover-ups,” and “contempt for the rule of law,” as well as the “manipulation of institutions and the judiciary.”

In the same section, he spoke of “international humiliation through OPEKEPE” and of Greece becoming “a routine client of European courts,” linking these issues to a “destruction of trust and social cohesion.” “No matter how much they try to convince us, this is neither normality nor stability,” he added, attributing these phenomena to “the style and ethos of the current administration.”

Tsipras described the social and economic situation with emphasis on inequality, labor conditions, and housing.

He referred to “a market without rules or meaningful protections for workers,” “exhausting working hours,” “flexible labor relations,” and “inadequate safety standards,” while citing concerns he said he heard during his tours around the country. On housing, he said that “the last refuge of every family has become a distant and unattainable dream,” speaking of “rampant profiteering in property prices and rents” and difficulties affecting young people and families at a time when “the demographic problem constitutes an existential threat to our country.”

In the same context, he argued that “the state has fallen into the hands of a caste that treats it like spoils,” referring to “European funds,” “Recovery Fund resources,” and “billions from overtaxing the many.” He also referred to “extra-institutional centers of interest” that, in his words, “influence or even control political parties and governments.”

Regarding the political landscape, he linked the “crisis of trust” to “the two old parties of the post-junta era, New Democracy and PASOK,” also referring to their finances and saying that “the debts of both exceed one billion euros.”

Turning to the founding declaration, Tsipras described it as “our Compass for the New Greece,” speaking of “a democratic plan for the 21st century,” “an Ethical Revolution,” and “a new patriotism inseparably linked with Social Justice.” He also elaborated on the concept of “democracy and justice,” saying: “Democracy degenerates without justice. And justice can only be realized through democracy,” adding that the country needs “a shock of honesty and democracy. A New Metapolitefsi.”

The former prime minister presented “7 core Commitments” as the central framework of the declaration:

“First: We commit to a Life with Dignity.
Second: We commit to a strong Democracy without Immunities. To transparency and oversight at every level of power and public money.
Third: We commit to a strong Economy of Fair Development and Dignity. To changing the productive model with emphasis on agricultural production and manufacturing.
Fourth: We commit to a Social State of Rights against profiteering.
Fifth: We commit to a Resilient Greece in a World of Constant Crises.
Sixth: We commit to Digital Democracy and Sovereignty.
Seventh: We commit to a Strong Greece that safeguards its Rights and builds Bridges of Peace.”

In his closing remarks, Alexis Tsipras spoke of “a new collective effort” and “the creation of a broad Progressive Alliance,” describing its goal as “the convergence of the three historic currents of the progressive space”: “the Radical Left, Social Democracy, and Political Ecology.”

At the same time, he called on “all Greek women and all Greek men to sign our Declaration,” addressing “the people of the Left, Democracy, and Progress,” as well as citizens “who have never before joined political parties.” Within the historical and political framework he outlined, he referred to “great progressive political and national traditions” and the “legacy” of movements and formations such as “EAM, the National Resistance, EDA, PASOK, SYRIZA, and the First Time Left government.”