2024-04-25 17:06:19
A double, unexpected political “headache” has been caused in Koumoundourou on the one hand by Stefanos Kasselakis’ reference to the “miracle” of his baptism, on the other hand by the statement of MEP candidate Dimitris Papanotas on gender-based violence and the abuse of women.
Today’s position of George Tsipras, who stated that he was “shocked” by Kasselakis’ aversion to the “cross from the oil formed in the water” after his baptism, but also the “complaining” of many members and executives, among them the MEP candidate of Sofia Bekatorou’s party, on the issue of Papanota, they thus open a new cycle of introversion in SYRIZA – with unknown scope, duration and ramifications – less than two months before the June 9 European elections.
“No rational person talks about such things”
Regarding the Kasselakis issue, it is interesting that the statements of George Tsipras come after the “explanatory” video posted by the president of SYRIZA on social media, in which he emphasized that “in the personal moments that make up his life, he is himself ” and that “the robbery of faith and family by the Right ends here”.
Mr. Tsipras, party executive and MEP candidate, did not content himself with pointing out that “the Left has never had miracles in its political discourse” and that “no rational person talks about such things.” Instead, he expressed a broader concern about the risk of party mutation. Despite “the many things wrong with SYRIZA until last year, the mutation is something else” and it is not something that, according to Mr. Tsipras, the people of SYRIZA want. “Whatever Alexis Tsipras expressed, it was our soul,” he said characteristically.
He underlined, speaking to SKAI, that “the election of Kasselakis was done to change the wrongs, not to mutate, not to change our souls”. It is recalled that Pavlos Polakis was moving along the same wavelength, in an interview he granted to “Avgi” a few days earlier, when he had declared that “the ideological orientation of SYRIZA-P.S. it is not determined by my opinion, just as it is not determined by the opinion of the president himself, the current one or any previous one. All of us, without exception, are bound by the party’s statutes and the decisions of the conferences.”
It is noted that St. Kasselakis, speaking to ANT1 on Thursday morning, answered that “the only miracle that exists is that SYRIZA has risen after all that it has been through in the last months and years, and I am proud of where we are”.
“Headache” and reactions to Papanota
At the same time, internal party reflection is intensifying regarding the statements of MEP candidate, Dimitris Papanotas. It is recalled that in recorded statements that were broadcast on television shows, Mr. Papanotas can be heard saying: “I don’t see a problem for women in Greece and in general in the European Union. Unless she wants to have… That is, if she gets a satrap who abuses her and doesn’t talk and sits and puts up with it, it’s her problem. I see that they are fine at work, they treat them fine, they have fine salaries.”
PASOK and New Left were placed on the issue, as well as the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis, who wrote in his post that Mr. Papanotas “cannot be a candidate” in the European elections and that he hopes “simply without fuss to withdraw him and move on”.
And from the side of SYRIZA, “complaints” have already been expressed by members and executives. Dora Tsambazi, also a candidate on the European ballot of the party, speaking to Kontra, spoke of “very great dissatisfaction” because of this position, while she noted that the relevant bodies of Koumoundourou, specifically the Ethics Committee of SYRIZA, should take up the issue.
Sofia Bekatorou appeared sharp but clear regarding the issue of Dimitris Papanotas, whose statements about abused women caused an uproar.
Dimitris Papanotas himself in his post yesterday stated on the subject that “I apologize if through the “cutting” of my statement I was given the impression that the victims of abuse also have a share of responsibility for what has happened to them. And I pledge that I will fight on the side of abused women until the day when such phenomena will have disappeared for good.”
Finally, it is noted that tomorrow, Friday, at 7 p.m., at the Cultural Center – Greek World, the president of SYRIZA PS, Stefanos Kasselakis, will present the party’s European ballot paper.