POLITICS IN PASOK
Jan 28th, 2008 by admin
The split within the ranks of the main opposition party is back in the news. A former culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos has annouced plans to create a club within the party. The recent meeting between both parties to discuss a proposal ended in a cloud of discord. I met with the party leader George Papandreou
WHAT ARE THE BASIC CHALLENGES YOU FACE AS THE NEWLY ELECTED PARTY LEADER?
The basic challenge is to reorganise the party in a way which will make sure we have the younger generation involved and the main parts of the dynamic parts of the society that are generally considered marginalised whether it’s women,the migrants, minority, people with disabilities but also a dynamic part of the youths which is very entrepreneurial and creative. A new alliance of the creative with the old. This creates a society of cohesion and participation. I think this will certainly make our voice heard more on the big issues of the politics which are education, social policy with greater equality, a new tax system which will help the poor and a new developmental model which will boost economy and green development, such as environment, history our tradition, education and research.
ISN’T THIS A TOTAL SHIFT FROM THE VERY TRADITIONAL ROLE OF THE PARTY?
The traditional role of the party shift will be to a role of a more progressive party in the 21st century, the new type of issues, the issues which should go back to some of our basic values. The issues of inequality, human rights, issues of people who are marginalised, issues of giving people a voice, Democratic issues, adding to that, the issue of our cultural and environmental heritage which of course is a very big heritage for Greece. Most important is seeing how we can combine that into a developmental model for example we have olive oil in Greece, making olive oil a product of quality, a product which is linked to our tradition, linked to a new derived consumable want whether biological, ecological product, green product therefore making poor farmers which are producing olive oil able to compete in a very competitive world, rather than competing with say the poorer countries which are asking for asses into the European markets. This will enable them have a clear achievable product for the consumer in Europe. Rather than be protective, invest, which is difficult in high quality products and therefore look for a different niche in the market.
HOW DO YOU INTEND TO KEEP THE PARTY UNITED?
I think the party is more united because this was a very democratic process. Democracy in the end legitimises the new leader who ever he or she may be. It was a very un revolutionary standard of election with hundreds of thousands coming out to vote, over 800,000 thousand. People over 60 and immigrants living in Greece. I think it’s something in itself unites the party in a very democratic way.