The decision of former PM Giorgos Papandreou to attend the book presentation of Marilena Koppa at the Ianos book store in Athens, along with DIMAR leader Fotis Kouvelis, has caused frustration amongst the ranks of PASOK executives.
In an interview to the Sunday print edition of To Vima Yannis Maniatis distanced himself from the former PM, while Leonidas Grigorakos told EDT that Mr. Papandreou was making a “political mistake” and urged his party to clarify its relationship with its former leader. Current party leader Evangelos Venizelos, who is currently in Epirus on an election campaign tour, has avoided making any comments.
When asked about this development, Mr. Venizelos responded that the former PM is “a PASOK MP, one of the MPs supporting the government”, but when pressed about the meeting with Mr. Kouvelis he claimed that he had “nothing to say”. Despite assurances that Mr. Papandreou does not intend to ally himself with or join DIMAR, his meeting with Mr. Kouvelis has frustrated many within PASOK.
Mr. Venizelos appeared at an open rally in Giannena over the weekend, where he stressed that his party is not the only one to be held responsible for developments in Greece, arguing that “PASOK has been diminished, its tired, it is weakened, it has been punished; I do not understand why PASOK must be punished for the political changeover, while New Democracy struggles for the first place against SYRIZA, which reflects the old PASOK that we are trying to overcome”.
