“When you persist, you succeed.” With this message, Stefanos Kasselakis, a few hours before the crucial meeting of the Political Secretariat at 19:00, refers not to the developments in SYRIZA but to the air conditioners he had donated to a school in Kallithea.
Specifically, in his post, Stefanos Kasselakis writes that “when you persist, you succeed. I will always be by your side” publicizing the letter of thanks sent to him by the director of the EEEEK Kallithea.
“With this letter we inform you that the placement and installation of the air conditioners, which you kindly granted us, has been carried out. Now they will be able to operate safely, facilitating the operation of the school unit. Warm thanks” says director Niki Hatzihalepli.
His post:
When you persist, you succeed.
I will always be by your side. pic.twitter.com/IngmfjP33C— Stefanos Kasselakis (@skasselakis) February 20, 2024
The post in question comes just a few hours before the new meeting of the General Assembly which, following yesterday’s meeting, comes to decide on the next steps in SYRIZA after the president’s questionnaire which caused strong reactions and then the letter of Mr. Kasselakis who picked up the gauntlet from London where he was in which he pointed out with direct accusations that the executives were contributing to the conspiracy.
On the tractors in Omonia in the afternoon
It is noted that in the framework of the agricultural rally, Mr. Kasselakis will come down to the center of Athens today, as it became known in the afternoon, the president of SYRIZA, Stefanos Kasselakis, will come down, in order to be on the side of the farmers.
Specifically, he will go to Omonia at 17:30 where the tractors that will participate in the demonstrations will be located. As it became known, the Political Secretariat of the party will finally meet at 19:00.
Meanwhile, the issue of leadership in SYRIZA, even before the European elections, was opened by the director of K.O. of the George Tsipras party, leaving spikes for Stefanos Kasselakis.
Mr. Tsipras, speaking on “Parapolitika 90.1”, expressed his belief that SYRIZA should go to the elections with Stefanos Kasselakis, “but if there is no agreement with him, let’s find another person who will gather the characteristics to let’s go to the European elections”.
Asked if today’s meeting of the Political Secretariat will last, he said that he hopes that Stefanos Kasselakis will be present, adding that SYRIZA must exist, exist and protect the party”.
Asked about the questionnaire and whether it was sent correctly, he said: “No, but this is the latest incident. Overall developments matter. A political function must be restored in SYRIZA in order to do well for the European elections”.
“Unmediated does not mean ‘do whatever I want'”
He also criticized the term unmediated, which Mr. Kasselakis uses. “Unmediated is not bad, the more contact there is with society and members the better for a leader. Unmediated, however, does not mean “I do whatever I want”, he said, while noting that after the split of the MPs who formed the New Left, there was no questioning of the president.
“There was a willingness to support the new course and we can continue, as long as there is agreement,” he pointed out, expressing the hope that there will be a solution, something that the members of the Political Secretariat also want. “I supported Kasselakis until his election, I was never part of a leadership group. Then, I supported him, as we all should,” he noted.
Asked if Mr. Kasselakis should leave, Mr. Tsipras said: “There must be an agreement to go in an orderly manner until the European elections, without surprises, without me deciding, as should be the functioning of a democratic Left party, I hope there will be a solution for a better perspective until the European elections”, saying that after that there will be a new dialogue. “We’ll discuss it again later. Everything is allowed, every debate is allowed, we are a democratic party,” he said.
“There is no principle of one man, leadership is like respect, it is not imposed”
Mr. Tsipras also expressed his objections to the questionnaire, which triggered the fierce conflict of the last few days. “Take the questionnaire. “What should Stefanos Kasselakis change in the party?”. It’s another thing to ask what should be changed, what should we change, the president does not have the authority to ask certain things himself, nor would this question exist in the New Republic,” he said.
As he clarified, however, “I am not at all afraid that if the world wants Mr. Kasselakis to change things, there is no principle of one man. If some have it (as a mentality), they have it badly. Leadership is like respect, it is earned, not imposed.
“If we have a good result, we may not need to change leadership”
Mr. Tsipras noted that if there is a good result in the European elections, a change of leadership may not be necessary, however defining the good result as the second place minimum.
“We have to ensure the political operation until the European elections. If it is secured and we have a good result, we may not need to change leadership. The minimum good result is second place,” he said, while stressing that there should be no collective leadership until the European elections.
“No, there should be one, it should be Kasselakis until the European elections, if there is no agreement, there should be a person who will gather the consent of all of us, unanimously, to proceed until the European elections,” he said.
Asked if Alexis Tsipras should return, SYRIZA’s KO director said: “He would help a lot, not only SYRIZA needs him, but the progressive world of our country.”
Already, the executives of SYRIZA are in a fighting position, a few hours before the second round of the intra-party confrontation, at 19:00 in the afternoon, when the Political Secretariat is scheduled to meet again, in order to be attended by Stefanos Kasselakis, who will he has returned from London.
At today’s meeting, it is expected to be seen whether the crisis that broke out on the occasion of the questionnaire to the members, will worsen or whether there will be a truce, even if temporary, referring the issue to the Congress of the party, which is scheduled to start on Thursday. Based on the statements of the members, however, it does not appear that the members of the body will come with a common position.
At the heart of the controversy is Mr. Kasselakis’ questionnaire to the members, with “identical” questions about the personality of SYRIZA, a fact that was interpreted as an attempt to turn SYRIZA into a leader-oriented and personalist party.
Yesterday’s meeting of the Political Secretariat took place in a dramatic atmosphere, while it lasted more than six hours, indicative of the situation prevailing among the leaders of SYRIZA, who see the prospect of finding themselves a few days before the Congress “in another party, with another political platform”. The climate was even more dynamized by Mr. Kasselakis’ decision not to appear via video conference – he was in London – but through a letter, in which he strongly criticized the top executives whom he called on to stop “chasing chimeras”.
Zachariadis: We did not elect a monarch, but a president
The executives of SYRIZA, especially the members of the Political Secretariat, are taking a position, in view of the meeting of the body.
Speaking to ANT1, Kostas Zachariadis raised the issue of political course, orientation and coordinated recovery, with an end to introversion. Commenting on the criticisms of SYRIZA executives against Stefanos Kasselakis, that he runs the party like a business, Kostas Zachariadis said that we elected a president, we did not elect a monarch.
“It is not Kasselakis’ SYRIZA. We elected a president and no one denies that, we did not elect a monarch,” said the SYRIZA executive, noting that Stefanos Kasselakis does not ignore party institutions.
Theocharopoulos: There was no question of a motion of censure against Kasselakis
Thanasis Theocharopoulos expressed his disagreement about the submission of the questionnaire shortly before the conference, who admitted that the situation in SYRIZA is not pleasant.
“There was a surprise action with a questionnaire and an agenda was changed, instead of the conference being about agriculture, the members will come and instead of political issues, they will discuss its brand,” he said characteristically, explaining that the disagreement does not concern the content, but in the moment. “There must be an organized discussion about all of this. It is provided for in the statute,” he said.
Regarding the election of Stefanos Kasselakis to the leadership of the party, as well as his remaining in this position, Thanasis Theocharopoulos emphasized that, “the president has been elected from the grassroots, because we said to give the floor to the members. I absolutely support and respect the result of the base that elected the president” and called the way this debate was opened “wrong” and what was the second mistake was the letter to all members of the PG, which goes in a direction of force attack”.
His distaste for Mr. Kasselakis was characteristic, saying that “he was elected president of SYRIZA, he did not found a new party.” However, he noted that “divorce does not always provide the solution”.
Ragousis: Kasselakis’ letter is baseless
There was also a reaction from Yiannis Ragousis, who disagreed with the letter of Stefanos Kasselakis to the members of the PG.
“It is not correct, the content of the Kasselakis letter is unfair. If the initiative for the questionnaire had not been taken and if we had not received such a letter yesterday without Mr. Kasselakis knowing why the Political Secretariat was convened, we would not have been on the front page of 6-7 newspapers” he said speaking to SKAI and added: “the president chose not to respond to Mrs. Gerovasili but to the members of the PG as a whole. The 17 of us who requested the meeting of the body did not have a specific agenda.”
“Mr. Kasselakis’ letter was completely wrong and unfounded. What we have to do, with Mr. Kasselakis first, is that everything goes well and that no excuses are given,” he said, noting that the president of SYRIZA is accusing them of something that does not exist. “If we look at whose initiatives the negative publicity came from, none started from us but from the president and his team. We did not leave SYRIZA, we want to help, there should already be an instrument in the logic of the morning coffee”, he said.
In this context, Mr. Ragousis asked Stefanos Kasselakis “to take the necessary initiatives as the leader of the party to restore calm and sobriety to the organs, to go to the extroversion conference and to stop the negative publicity”
Regarding the questionnaire, Mr. Ragousis replied that “it was well done, but let’s make the results public”. “The problem is that when you have put forward a congress which is the highest democratic process for the members, it is the Divine Liturgy for the members, when the pre-congress dialogue is over, these issues should have been introduced earlier. When the president raises such issues, it means that he is concerned. We try to sanctify and it won’t let us. I don’t want anyone to be pessimistic. Our concept is for SYRIZA to be standing and not to destroy it”
Petros Pappas: A motion of censure against Stefanos Kasselakis is suicidal
At the same time, Petros Pappas called on all sides to take a step back and defuse, while he described a motion of censure against the president as suicidal.
According to what Mr. Pappas told ERT, the questionnaire concerns issues that have been raised in the internal party debate for years and the answers will serve as an advisory.
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