Ex-PM gives his backing to idea of center-left alliance
Former Prime Minister and PASOK leader Costas Simitis gave his backing on Tuesday to an initiative to create a new center-left alliance.
Simitis was not one of the 58 personalities who signed a declaration made public on Monday but said that he was in favor of the effort.
“I applaud the move made by the 58,” he said. “It is along the right lines and may help get us out of a dead-end.”
The former premier was speaking at the presentation of the first volume of ex-Cypriot President Giorgos Vassiliou’s biography in Athens.
Simitis criticized both New Democracy and SYRIZA for the polarization they are fuelling. “It prevents us from overcoming our shortcomings,” he said.
In an interview with Ethnos newspaper, Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis also welcomed the attempt to form a common platform for the center-left to rally around. However, he ruled out the possibility of his small moderate left party cooperating directly with PASOK in the next elections.