Zappeio. September 3, 2024. 50 years after the founding declaration of PaSoK, and almost a month before the internal party elections, everything is ready for the celebration of this historic day. The day that Andreas Papandreou set as the beginning of the impending change that the place needed.
From early in the morning, officials of the organization arrange the last details. They set up booths where party members will inform those present about the positions of PaSoK, mainly around social issues.
Unity in action
The platform where the party president Nikos Androulakis will speak will be placed outside. The former presidents of the party, Kostas Simitis, George Papandreou and Evangelos Venizelos, will also climb on it to address a greeting. This will be the first time in a long time that they will all be together in the same space. On the occasion of the summit meeting, a high-ranking executive of Harilaou Trikoupi stated to Vima that “unity is being put into practice” and went on to emphasize that “the image of the three presidents is a statement that PaSoK has a long history and a heavy jersey. The democratic faction has a glorious past and this is the image that pleases and unites its base”.
The three former presidents are expected to highlight PaSoK’s contribution to society over the years. The message of the founding declaration for national independence, popular sovereignty and social liberation, which were the main axes of the new body, will be the compass of the greetings. While examples will also be heard from the battles that took place during the years of “Change” in this direction.
Exciting moments
From Harilaou Trikoupi they are also preparing surprises that will help them unite the past with the present. Through a modest ceremony, which will essentially be an invisible thread of connection, those who first put their signatures and helped in this way to the creation of the party will be honored. 40 people who are still alive have been invited to sit in the front row to have their contributions recognized and applauded for what they have contributed to PASOK, from the day of its foundation until today. Among them are Kostas Simitis, Kostas Laliotis, Apostolos Kaklamanis, Vasso Papandreou, Kimon Koulouris, Petros Lambrou, Konstantinos Tsigaridas, George Charalampopoulos and others.
The event, or rather the 50th birthday of PaSoK, will be closed with a tribute to the great music composer Yiannis Markopoulos, who passed away a year ago and whose work was identified with the fight against the junta and the Postcolonization. Nikos Androulakis had even delivered the funeral in the composer’s birthplace in Crete.
The keynote speech
In his speech, the president of PaSoK, Nikos Androulakis, will be unifying and according to information, he will refer to the course of PaSoK over the past decades. Social reconciliation, The strengthening of institutions and the rule of law, The creation of the E.S.Y. , the cuts in family and labor law, the major infrastructure projects, the entry of the country into the monetary union and of Cyprus into the eurozone are conquests of the PASOK that embraced the underprivileged and contributed to social mobility. His speech will not be without references to the party’s attempt to come back, its upward trajectory in recent years and the responses of PaSoK to a series of policies implemented by the New Democracy, which affect the socially weaker and create new inequalities.
All the presidential candidates together
Naturally, all the candidate leaders of PaSoK will be at the gathering. Accompanied by their partners, they will shake hands, take photos with executives and carry out their own internal pre-election campaign with posts that will follow the event.
The mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, with his video yesterday, also invited the citizens to Zappeion for the 50th anniversary celebration. He emphasized that “we must draw strength from our roots” and stay united. As noted by his entourage, Mr. Doukas will consciously not hold a separate event, as he believes that on this day the entire PaSoK should be united and all executives should be together. However, his first video, which made reference to all the presidents of PaSoK, but not to the current president Nikos Androulakis, who is his opponent on October 6, caused a sensation. With Mr. Doukas’ entourage replying that only the former presidents were included in this controversial video and it had a retrospective and historical character.
With his own video on social media, Pavlos Geroulanos invites today at 12 noon, the executives of PaSoK to his own online event. At this particular event, he will discuss his plan and the steps to be followed for the political and organizational “Rebirth” of the PASOK. Their goal is to create the right conditions for the PASoK to take over the reins of the country, again, in the next national elections. But in order to do this, as his colleagues point out, the party must be open to society and dominant in the space of the center-left.
While Anna Diamantopoulou yesterday Monday already held a themed event dedicated to the new generation. The event was even broadcast online. In fact, the venue was not accidental as he chose to hold it where it all began in the hall of a central Athens hotel, where the founder of the party, Andreas Papandreou, 50 years ago, raised his hand holding the founding declaration and called the democrats citizens to follow him
Michalis Katrinis, returning from a tour in Evros, who spoke about the low health services, the huge demographic problem and the difficulties faced by farmers. According to his statements, today is a day of unity and truce. Michalis Katrinis will present his own proposal for a large lineup and the next day’s PaSoK on Wednesday, September 11 at the Athens Conservatory. According to his colleagues, this is a new plan for the Restructuring of the country and a bold programmatic framework that stirs the waters of stagnation at all levels.
Nadia Giannakopoulou held an event in the auditorium of the Peristeri Town Hall for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PASOK
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