Tensions within the main opposition party SYRIZA between President Stefanos Kasselakis and prominent party officials continued to escalate during the political secretariat meeting on Thursday, after eight members of a top party committee “87” walked out expressing disagreement with Kasselakis’ proposal to salvage a couple of party-affiliated media outlets.
In their statement, they expressed opposition to the president’s proposal regarding the party’s media outlets and his attempt to enter Parliament by pressuring SYRIZA MPs to resign so he can take their place.
“The refusal to provide financial data to the political secretariat speaks volumes about the rules being imposed in the new SYRIZA, which in no way represent the left,” they pointedly noted in their text.
Moreover, outspoken ex-minister and current MP Pavlos Polakis, who’s been expelled from the SYRIZA Parliamentary group but remains a member of the political secretariat, raised the explosive issue of the party’s leadership, essentially taking aim at Kasselakis’ position.
“Today’s leadership cannot provide a political solution; there must be change, and I will contribute to this end.”
PAVLOS POLAKIS in front of Political Secretariat members
The media outlets in question are the daily newspaper ‘Avgi’ and the news radio station ‘Sto Kokkino’, with reports stating that employees are now owed two months back pay. Both decidedly left-leaning media are also burdened with debts, high operating costs and low revenue generation.
Two of the political secretariat committee members who walked out, Olga Gerovassili and Katerina Notopoulou, are serving Parliament deputies, while the others include past MPs and ministers.
According to party sources in the wake of the latest SYRIZA “turbulence”, Kasselakis proposed funding of the two partisan media outlets even with bank borrowing, thereby ensuring that back wages to be paid and financing a a more generous severance package for staffers willing to resign.
From his side, despite internal pressures, Kasselakis stated that he does not plan to resign or call snap elections. “I am not picking up the gauntlet, whoever wants to, let them file a motion with the Central Committee,” he said.
