Sokratis Famellos explained to the members of the Central Committee the reasons that led him to run for the presidency of SYRIZA.
One of the candidates for the leadership spoke of an all-out battle for survival, which the main opposition party is in danger of losing if it does not manage to get out of the internal turmoil.
“A democratic electric shock is needed in the operation of SYRIZA” he argued, among other things.
Sokr. Famellos also attacked Stefanos Kasselakis, saying that he “doesn’t like SYRIZA”.
The speech of Socrates. Famous
The intensity of today’s debate in the KE confirms the critical and difficult moment in which the SYRIZA PS finds itself. For this reason I assumed the responsibility of the candidacy for the position of the president of SYRIZA PS. Because the Left is not afraid of responsibility. And in difficult times he always comes out ahead.
Next week I will submit the candidacy based on what our decisions require and respecting the decisions of the institutions.
The serious party crisis has reached extreme features in recent months. And this crisis does not stop after the censure, but swells. And now the identity as well as the democratic functioning of our party is being questioned.
The KE rightly decided to withdraw the confidence in the former president. Since his operation and his choices were negative for both the party and the interests of society and contrary to the conference and statutory provisions.
The censure process is stigmatizing but avoidable. The former president did not want it and sought it. But we cannot have an a la carte democracy. And only when we like the result to appeal to the members and democracy. The members are not only to vote for the president but for all the statutory provisions.
But the censure was a democratic choice. Let’s get this straight. The application of the statute, as well as the constitutional rule at the level of the Parliament, is as democratic as the grassroots electoral process. But the crisis cannot be resolved just by changing the president. It requires large political and organizational cuts. Which start from our very physiognomy. Because problems existed and led to the election of the former president.
My choice of candidacy is based on my deep conviction of the social and political necessity of SYRIZA and the Progressive Alliance. Greek society needs a SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance, serious, modern, reliable, dynamic. We are not that kind of party today. We do not respond and do not express the values, ethos and struggles, but also the sacrifices of the progressive faction. And we also insult the legacy of the Left Government, of Alexis Tsipras.
Society doesn’t think we can support it. We have been discredited. Necessity in this restart of SYRIZA, is the UNITY of our party, the day after the elections. I take the responsibility to guarantee unity first of all, as I have demonstrated from the position of KO president for 14 months.
Electing a president will not solve our problems. In order to move to WE, we must strengthen our organizations. For this reason I also invited those we disappointed to return. But in order to return, leftists and leftists, progressive citizens, ask us to be rigorous in our self-criticism. They demand answers. Why did we allow this to happen?
How will we rebuild our home, the new SYRIZA, if we have no answers? How will we guarantee the need and credibility of the policy? To creative and active citizens? To young people?
We have to start with a goal. Let’s be PROUD of our party AGAIN! Because progressive citizens were never ashamed of their beliefs and their party! The path to the Congress is not only our statutory obligation. It also aims at revitalizing organizations. And here we should not compete for the correlations of a decision but for the guiding role of the KE. The priority is for the organizations to discuss democratically and with inspiration.
Organizations must function with inspiration and joy. This is what I asked you last year when I took over as president of KO, to bring back the smile and inspiration of creation and social change to our work. It is not utopian. But let me make it clear to you that I personally do not change one iota or tone in what I feel about the left.
The pre-conference process must be done with open organizations, creative dialogue, companionship. With two goals. The politicization of the debate and the attraction of the disaffected and the registration of new comrades.
It is not a procedural matter. It’s a matter of survival. What is at stake in the election is not the choice of president. But SYRIZA itself.
In this direction, those who open or leave hanging a debate on the revision of the democratically adopted decisions of the Organs are not only making a big mistake, but are doing harm to the party. With divisive terms and blind polarization, which citizen will join the organizations? How will we discuss the political plan to support the society that lives in great inequalities? For the youth that has no tomorrow and Greece that is weakening while our neighborhood is on fire?
Such a choice will completely discredit our party in society. And on the other hand it will shake the confidence of the members. The appeal to the base from the beginning sought the opinion of the members on the big political problems created by the former president. This had to be done from the beginning, an appeal to the members.
But yesterday’s statement by the former president is causing new division and polarization. He doesn’t want SYRIZA, he doesn’t like it, he wants another party. With other principles, another identity, another name as his proposal for the statute proved.
But what was recorded in yesterday’s video has not been heard before. Is there a plan of infighting within the party? I want a clear answer from my colleagues in the Parliament who worked together since last year in July. Did you see that there was a plan of involvement and that it affected our work? is it not our decision to pursue the pre-election alliance for a progressive government? We can no longer remain indifferent to such complaints. Retsinia will stay with all of us. I won’t allow it. And I invite you to take a stand now.
Interference is serious business, it’s not a joke to fit into a video. And I ask also, what is the scheme of blockade which he denounced, dividing and causing tension to the Congress? It is a problem for a left-wing party when all of us put the issues of partying on Mr. Mitsotakis.
The developments take the stakes of the November 24 elections to another level. The stake is SYRIZA itself. Will it be a social party or a one-man shop? Where can he change the label whenever he wants and sublease it?
This is what society sees and obviously hesitates to give us its trust. We must restore the democratic consistency of the left. And to deal with toxicity and sterile confrontation. Like the one that was allowed to circulate on the internet and under the responsibility of the press office about the contribution of MPs to the party’s finances.
Let me make it clear. In 2024 the MPs have contributed more than 300,000 euros to the party, while in June 16 MPs gave an additional 18,000 euros for the European elections and at the beginning of July 10 MPs and 3 top executives gave 13,000 euros for the party’s media. But that’s where we got to spreading such lies.
Or that we did not oppose Mr. Mitsotakis for a year when I counted 50 of my speeches against Mr. Mitsotakis in the Parliament, without detecting any deficit, 22 speeches in cities before the European elections, and in fact always with full documentation and meetings with thousands citizens and over 100 agencies. And I am obliged to inform the highest body of all this because I do not accept and do not succumb to leaks.
But comrades, we have one more great obligation. Let’s talk about SYRIZA in 2027.
We have a solid foundation with the decisions of the February Conference. The draft policy decision correctly incorporates what we have already stated publicly. But the debate on the election of the president should give us valuable resources for our program.
On the one hand, a democratic electric shock is required in the operation of SYRIZA from below. An open but composed SYRIZA.
But also at the level of programmatic discourse, planned radical reforms are required. As SYRIZA PS, we have established the goal of a strong state. With planning, scientific tools, prevention, independent authorities, transparency, safe and with public benefit management of technology and innovation (artificial intelligence-AI, big data, etc.).
In the field of economics we have rightly formulated the rule of the regulated market with control. And this also concerns electricity and fuel and banks and sales chains. This position has entered our agenda since 2022. And I was in charge of these edits. And we are rightly talking about redistribution. And the extraordinary taxation of surplus profits.
But we must also talk about the transformation of the economy and society. Our main goal is antitrust reform and market pluralism, along with regulation and control. And this also concerns the social and cooperative and solidarity economy.
An even more important goal is the sustainability of the economy. The current model is short-sighted and predatory for the environment and society. We have to promote and present the new economy, with a new product, another production model, new work with rights and wages and real prosperity. That is, for the production model that changes Greece’s position in regional competition as well
In the field of transparency and the rule of law, we must proceed with safeguards that also include constitutional reforms.
But democracy means that everyone has access to the basic goods of life: Health, Education, security, a decent salary.
This is all politics. And we must communicate to the world that politics is his life. And it’s not for pundits or policy professionals. And these goods are not guaranteed today in the Greece of Mr. Mitsotakis.
But for all this and for much more, it is necessary first of all that SYRIZA PS exists. Which will be the core and pillar of the progressive counterattack.
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