Alexis Tsipras is trying to convince people that he has changed, but most of his leadership team comes from Syriazas.

The leadership team of Alexis Tsipras, which is making the crucial decisions and organizing the new party, is not so different from the team the former prime minister had around him when he was in charge of SYRIZA. In fact, many have been with him since 2012, shattering the image he wants to portray that he is gathering new members of the Left around him.

One of the people who are Alexis Tsipras’s closest associates is Giorgos Vassiliadis, who was also a minister in the Syriza government, while Olga Gerovassili, a former minister and current MP, also gives him advice on the human geography of the Left.

One of the persons responsible for the former prime minister’s economic proposals is Professor Fragiskos Koutedakis, who of course was the secretary of the Syriza government and participated in the 2015 negotiations with the Troika. At the same time, on education issues and issues related to the party’s ideology, he consults Kosta Gavroglou, who was a former Syriza minister of education.

The strategic communications piece of the new party in the making is being handled by Nikos Marantzidis, who was in charge of SYRIZA‘s campaign for the second national election in 2023. At the same time, Aris Stylianou, former member of Synaspismos and then of SYRIZA, but also a candidate for MP in the first district of Thessaloniki, is one of the key persons who will shape the ideological and political direction of the new party.

The working group for the creation of the new party includes many members who were SYRIZA cadres in the past or held government positions during the Tsipras government, such as Zacharoula Tsirigoti, Nikos Bistis and Dionysis Teboneras.

At the same time, Alexis Tsipras plans to use many current and former Syriza MPs, with Miltos Zambaras, Alexander Meikopoulos, Athina Linou and Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou topping the list.

In short, Alexis Tsipras has gathered former and current SYRIZA executives as well as people who either participated in his government or openly supported it and presents it as a new effort with new people.

Rebranding with the same faces? That’ll go well.