Samaras and 50 “nails” in the omnipotence of Mitsotakis
The passing of the bill for equality in civil marriage creates new balances within the government, as 1/3 of the “blue” KO did not support the initiative which, as Maximos emphasized, “is a personal message” of the prime minister. Specifically, 20 “blue” MPs voted against and 31 abstained.
Many were moved by his speech Antonis Samaraswho was differentiated from the floor of the Parliament by all the prime minister’s strategic choices (Greek-Turkish, rural, immigration).
Regarding the bill, the former prime minister noted that these “They are not related to our faction. Gentlemen of the government, you don’t turn to the “center” like that. It is not “center” to overthrow the family, it is not “center” to abolish mother and father”. He added that the bill is a fundamental reversal of family law and its effects go much further. “And for all this, our faction should not have brought it to a vote. I will not vote for it. Same-sex marriage is not a human right.” he objected.
Yes, Ant. Samaras also referred to the “blue training schools”, noting that “fermentations were confused with… pressures. And even sometimes with impermissible pressures. In fact, in view of a vote, supposedly, “according to conscience”.
Indicative of the tense atmosphere in the right wing is that while the former prime minister was speaking there was an “underground” line from Maximou to empty the hall of ND MPs.
A little earlier the Kyriakos Mitsotakis he shot his arrows at Ant. Samara stating that “we belong to the West”, while he recalled the founding declaration of the ND which calls “to preserve from tradition what is useful”, distinguishing maintenance from regression.
In the “big picture”, Mitsotakis wants to create a “European” and reformist profile. It is in great need, especially a few days after the European Parliament’s landmark resolution blasting the government for the quality of democracy and the rule of law in Greece. Let’s add to this the scenarios for the Prime Minister’s transfer to international organizations.
Inside the blue faction, however, the image of an all-powerful prime minister has been shattered. At the same time, with his sonorous variation, Ant. Samaras comes out strengthened, as 51 “blue” MPs did not support the bill by abstaining and voting against. In fact, the Samaritan wing considers that in the European elections the political deterioration of the government will be crucial.
Farmers are escalating their struggle
At the same time, the agricultural movement, contrary to the government’s expectations, is intensifying its struggle. In particular, the farmers consider that their essential requests are not implemented with the announcements of the prime minister regarding production costs, oil, CAP and the regulation of ELGA.
That is why at their nationwide meeting (15/2) they decided to descend on Athens the day after tomorrow (20/2), escalating their mobilizations until their demands are accepted, which they say are linked to their survival. In this context, they are calling on unions and organizations in Athens to participate. In fact, all these days there are blocks and reactions from the rural world in all the big cities.
For its part, the government declares in all tones that “there are no more fiscal margins.”
The students are adamant
At the same time, the government has to manage the reactions of the students, who are protesting massively against the bill for the privatization of higher education. In particular, in the last few weeks the student mobilizations have numbered thousands of people, deconstructing the government’s narrative about “minorities” disrupting the orderliness of universities.
The students are reacting because, as they say, the establishment of non-state universities practically means the privatization of education which will lead to the exclusion of thousands of children of popular origin from the highest good of knowledge. That is why the reactions and demonstrations of student youth are expected to escalate in the coming days.
The open fronts of the government, combined with the generalized accuracy but also the huge contradictions within it, form a suffocating framework just a few months before the European elections. There are objective conditions for there to be a critical political decay and that is why Maximos is worried.
Androulakis had the biggest losses
The descent of the tractors in Athens, Androulaki’s contacts with farmers in Crete and the new fronts in the field of education against the Mitsotakis government for the operation of private universities do not cover the blow from the direct questioning of the leadership of PASOK-KINAL but also of part of the ideological party platform. Harilaou Trikoupis is not yet aware of the consequences – intra-party and more broadly political/electoral or post-electoral, depending on the performance in the European polls – of the abstention of her eleven MPs who disagreed with the official party line of voting for the same-sex couples bill.
Moreover, PASOK officials are already calling on the leadership not to ostrich and not to hide under the carpet the issue that is connected to the value and identity characteristics of the social democracy area. The phrase “this is not PASOK”, which spread on social media the night after the roll-call vote on the civil marriage of same-sex couples, schematically captured transformations in the profile of PASOK under the leadership of Nikos Androulakis. On the one hand, the leadership staff of Harilaou Trikoupis presents PASOK as an institution-guardian of human rights universally and not a la carte, and on the other hand, it presents the patriotic PASOK with ethnocentric elements.
Division in… depth
The division is not temporary, despite the rumors to the contrary from Harilaou Trikoupi, who at the same time secretly hopes that the dissident MPs, who mainly come from the region, with their attitude can be a pole of electoral attraction for a section of voters who are negative towards the expansion of civil marriage to same-sex couples. It’s not just the MP Pavlos Christidis who was quick to clarify that the issue will be discussed in the collective party bodies, although no issue of party discipline has been raised.
The case has depth and may, under certain conditions, be added to the European elections if there are unsatisfactory electoral performances. Already waiting for the post-election developments are – and they do not hide it – executives with a centrist/liberal profile, such as, among others, the MP Nadia Giannakopoulou (fired for the attitude of the secretary of the KO Evangelias Liakoulis) but also representatives of the so-called new generation who are in osmosis with the broader space of the center-left, such as the member of parliament Manolis Christodoulakis. For the first time in years, however, in Harilaou Trikoupi, strong ideological intersections are emerging on identity issues that confuse the center-left lines and even the liberal center.
Ideological constants
It is no coincidence that an executive with long experience in the field of the center-left is ringing the ideological bell in Harilaou Trikoupis, the Theodore Margaritis, member of the Central Political Committee. With his public intervention, he subtly blames the leadership for the relaxation of PASOK’s ideological constants regarding rights and combating prejudices. As he characteristically noted on Facebook last Friday about the one-third of KO that did not support the bill: “The issue is not that someone is simply anti-right, but that he confirms that he is a Socialist. That is, with equality, with rights, with respect for minorities”…
So the abstinence of the eleven was lightning but not in the air (Evang. Liakoulis, Panagiotis Paraskevaidis, Stavros Michaelidis, Odysseus Konstantinopoulos, Andreas Poulas, Christina Starakas, Tasos Nikolaidis, Katerina Kazani, Manolis Chnaris, Burhan Baran, Apostolos Panas). Be continiued…
Controversy in Koumoundourou over the attitude of the party’s deputies
Satisfaction prevails in Koumoundourou for the party’s stance on the marriage equality bill. “Without SYRIZA it would not have passed, while without PASOK it would have passed” said the Stefanos Kasselakis from Ghazi, where he participated in a party for the passing of the bill. “Many of you may have a child who belongs to the LGBTI+ community, Greece is moving forward and becoming a progressive country step by step” he said among other things.
The vast majority of MPs voted positively, while abstention was chosen by Pavlos Polakis despite the party discipline that had been imposed. The Cretan MP emphasized that on Thursday he had to be in the hospital, near his relative, while he later revealed that he had objections to the right to have children through a surrogate mother. “I believe that any legal issues that existed could be resolved by expanding the provisions of the cohabitation agreement” he said characteristically.
THE Othon Iliopoulos he emphasized that his abstention was due to a “personal obstacle” and described the passing of the bill as a “positive step”.
On the other hand, her “presence” was almost expected Nina Kasimatiwhich nevertheless upvoted some articles.
Support to farmers
And Vasilis Kokkalis had some concerns about the bill. The rest of the MPs urged him to vote positively in order not to risk losing the position of head of the Agricultural Policy, since he is considered completely successful, at a time when the struggles of the producers are escalating.
SYRIZA tells Documento that they are determined to support the rural mobilizations until the end. Inconvenience of citizens from the descent of tractors in large urban centers “it will not exist if the government actually talks with the farmers and provides the necessary solutions” the director of KO stated a few days ago on documentonews.gr George Tsipras.
The elections are postponed
The Political Secretariat with the suggestion of Stef. Kasselakis decided to postpone the elections for the coordinating and prefectural elections, so that the system is ready for online voting. These will be held two weeks after the conference both electronically and by ballot.
From SYRIZA they say that “this digital step signals innovation and the use of new technologies to open the party especially to the new generation”. The aim is to increase participation, since those who live far from their organization will also be able to vote, such as for example the islanders who live in Athens.
This weekend only the elections for the selection of congressmen are held, while over 600 pre-conference events have been organized throughout Greece.
The goal is extroversion
In SYRIZA, they also see the inability of PASOK to rise in the polls, as well as the very small percentages of the New Left, and they aspire to become the main representative of the progressive forces that will be able to threaten the ND. The focus is on the student movement, individual rights, health, punctuality, the housing problem and, of course, clearing the blame for the Tempe tragedy.
Steph. Kasselakis will speak on Monday at the LSE event in London on “The Modern Left for Progressive Governance”. The next parliamentary battle is expected to be fought over the establishment of non-state universities.
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