The former PASOK leader and PM Giorgos Papandreou was the key speaker at the Monday evening event held at the Zappeio Hall in down town Athens, which was dedicated to PASOK founder Andreas Papandreou, as party of the party’s 40th anniversary celebrations. Despite the intentions to unite the party, the event was reminiscent of the 1996 PASOK summit, when Kostas Simitis and Akis Tsohatzopoulos clashed over party leadership, following the death of party leader Andreas Papandreou.
When Giorgos Papandreou took the stand he was welcomed with cheers and chants by party fans, who accused current PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos of being a “traitor” and overthrowing Papandreou in November 2011. In his speech Papandreou noted how “the people want a new start” and spoke of a “movement rebirth”, which he vowed to serve.
The former PASOK leader defended his controversial choices during his tenure as Prime Minister ahead of the crisis and argued that “many lies, distortions and conspiracies” have been told about the crisis and stressed that “the country’s credibility was undermined due to the conscious alteration of statistic data”.
When Mr. Venizelos later took the stand, the crowd began booing him and shouting slogans in favor of Giorgos Papandreou. The mayor of Athens Giorgos Kaminis and DIMAR representative Nikos Tsoukalis, who had been invited to attend the event, were stunned by the crowd’s reaction.
