Venizelos insists on a government of European powers

The first speech by Evangelos Venizelos at the party parliamentary group, shortly before receiving the exploratory mandate to form a government by Republic President Karolos Papoulias, included his proposals for a solution to the dead end of the post-election landscape, a dramatic announcement of a new PASOK start "without taboos, compromises and extra weights," and called for a rallying of the social-democratic forces.

As a solution, Venizelos proposed the establishment of a government of the European powers with the participation of ND, PASOK, SYRIZA and the Democratic Left, who want to keep the country in the euro for a better deal with the Troika and our lenders. Alternatively, Venizelos proposed the formation of a government of the Left, which will be supported by PASOK, provided that it will ensure the country’s stay in the euro.

He explained why he rejected Tsipras' proposal for an ecumenical government that would only deal with the institutional changes. "He wanted to freeze the financial procedures. I said no to an ecumenical government of inaction which would lead the country to a dead end."

The PASOK president accused SYRIZA of political immaturity and called the story with the letters to the EU and the Troika a tragic one, saying that Alexis Tsipras is fooling around, and that sending those letters should have been requested by SYRIZA earlier, as was the case with Antonis Samaras, as those letters were important for the borrowing of our country. He recognized that people wanted to try other forces, but these forces must make their efforts in the real world of lenders and international correlations.

Venizelos said that "nobody except PASOK has proposed a comprehensive plan for ending the crisis. We propose goals for which we have prepared," and noted rather bitterly that "people do not want their attention turned upon reality. We need balance between the political world and society, which broke down in these elections. I hope we find it again quickly."

He also charged that they consider the country is not in danger, saying that this perception might instantly be confronted with a harsh reality.