Fierce attack on Charis Doukas for his proposal to collaborate in the event of a second election PASOK and EL.A.S. launched by Anna Diamantopoulou.
“This issue—‘whether we discuss it now with one side or the other’— is a surefire recipe for a party to throw open its doors and windows and lose voters. Is that so? “I mean, I can’t imagine a more ridiculous approach,” said the former Commissioner and head of political planning for PASOK, speaking on OREN TV.
Anna Diamantopoulou even launched an attack on Alexis Tsipras, stating, among other things: “If the left is about this ethos and the struggle for equality and rights, I’ll sign off on it a thousand times over, with a thousand words. If the left is what we see—Mr. Tsipras shouting, Ms. Konstantopoulou shouting, Mr. Varoufakis shouting, and saying the things they say— it has nothing to do with what we had in mind.”.
At the same time, he had kind words for the government’s fiscal policy and the country’s positive image abroad, but he also leveled harsh criticism: “So, what PASOK has tried and continues to try to do is offer an alternative that speaks to the many. Because New Democracy has a steady 20% share of the vote, but has pursued a policy all these years that, yes, our public finances are in good shape and the country is very well received abroad—I have to admit that—but when it comes to domestic issues, this economic policy benefits only 20%. And the remaining 80% participates neither in redistribution nor in wealth.”
THE RELEVANT EXCERPT FROM THE DIAMANTOPOULOU INTERVIEW:
Kolokythas: You’ve closed the door on New Democracy, and on the other hand, you’re being accused of having moved too far to the left. So how are you going to win these people back?
Diamantopoulou: Could you explain to me what “we’ve moved too far to the left” means?
Niflis: I’ll tell you—I’ll describe the situation we were discussing here.
Kolokythas: The government is definitely accusing you of veering too far to the left.
Niflis: Here on Open, a PASOK official is speaking with an ELAS official. ELAS says, “We’re not aligned with PASOK; we can’t cooperate,” and the PASOK official replies, “But you’re so arrogant—let’s work together.”
Diamantopoulou: Yes. I don’t know… Look, maybe in the public discourse…
Niflis: Also, let me give you another example. Mr. Doukas’s position has been made clear. It’s not like we’re revealing anything. For discussion from now on, yes. Purely for discussion from now on.
Diamantopoulou: Look. This whole issue—the “let’s discuss this now with one side or the other”—is a surefire recipe for a party to throw open its doors and windows and lose voters. Is that so? I mean, I can’t imagine a more ridiculous approach.
We have said that the issue of coalitions—that is, to be precise, the issue of how the country will be governed—will be determined by what the Greek people say. We’ve drawn our red lines; we’ve presented our platforms. Now, left and right…
In this country, when we talk about the left, our minds go back to the Civil War; our minds go to a left that was incredibly oppressed by the post-Civil War right—which was the losing side—and to the people who suffered. My father was a communist. I know that right up until the end, when he died, his mind was—you know—that of a persecuted man. Fifty years have passed.
If the left is about this ethos and the struggle for equality and rights, I endorse it wholeheartedly, with a thousand words. If the left is what we see—Mr. Tsipras shouting, Ms. Konstantopoulou shouting, Mr. Varoufakis shouting, and saying the things they say— it has absolutely nothing to do with what we had in mind.
So what PASOK has tried—and continues to try—to do is to offer an alternative that serves the interests of the many. Because New Democracy has a steady 20% share of the vote, but it has pursued a policy all these years that, yes, our public finances are in good shape and the country is very well received abroad—I have to admit that—but when it comes to domestic issues, this economic policy benefits only 20% of the population. And the remaining 80% participates neither in redistribution nor in wealth.
