Ev. Venizelos: "The creation of a new political framework is needed"

Evangelos Venizelos was greeted by PASOK officers in the national conference hall with the slogan “PASOK is here, united and strong” and warm applause. The presidential candidate might have been cheered on but the ERT director had the camera trained on the speaker. Even though he had five cameras pointing to the audience of the conference, he used none.

“We did not just avoid default, we changed the way that the whole planet sees us” stressed the Finance Minister, mentioning the successful PSI. “The crisis is not over, the key is work, work, work”, he stressed. The deputy PM thanked the citizens for their sacrifices and apologized on behalf of the political system.

The references to George Papandreou and Lucas Papademos’ actions were explicit and clear, while he also attacked ND’s choice to fight the government while being a part of it. “It is time to speak of our future, of hope”, he added.

We must turn our attention to the disadvantaged young, he stated to PASOK members. We must review our past from the perspective of the future, he characteristically stated.

"No one should underestimate the people, not politically", he added, mentioning the tactics of all of the other parties and the polls.

He characterized the war that both the country and PASOK face as asymmetric. “This is our mission”, he underlined.

How will life be after the crisis, he asked. The answer, according to him, depends on us. In this context, he spoke of two national goals: truth and solidarity.

We need an institutional and political framework that will prevent new adventures. Thus, we need initiatives of an editorial nature, he said, and spoke of a new national contract, with new mechanisms of checking and self-cleansing. No to the illegal trading of influence, he declared.

A new state, a state of justice and a new model of growth are the priorities set forth. We can do it, he stated, and attacked those who speak of growth as if it were a given. We must turn our whole support program into a complete national plan of support, he added, and remarked that those who believe in renegotiations are not in touch with reality.

We embittered the people to save our country, but we did not lose our souls; he also stated that PASOK will remain the party which expresses democratic views. We want a PASOK which is decentralized, strong, respectful of meritocracy and transparency, he said with meaning. That is why society must believe us, it is a prerequisite.

At this point, he called to arms those that “should be with us today and will be with us tomorrow. We will make a new social alliance with all those we have embittered”.

Concerning the scenarios of the day after, he stated that the land will be governed according to the wishes of the Greek people. Consent is not a blank check.  The goal is victory, he stated, and placed himself against the dangerous and destructive right-wing populism.

“We begin anew” was his call.