Venizelos stands firm as PASOK MPs question party’s direction, prospects
Several PASOK MPs have raised questions about the party’s future and Evangelos Venizelos’s leadership but he insisted that he was the right man to lead the Socialists.
At a meeting of the Socialist party’s central political committee on Sunday, a number of lawmakers expressed concern about the party’s position within the governing coalition and its prospects in May’s European Parliament and local elections.
“The narrative is not working out and PASOK is in danger of foundering on the rocks if we do not change course,” said Thanos Moraitis.
Others, including former Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis and ex-party secretary Michalis Karchimakis, also called for Venizelos to rethink PASOK’s strategy.
Venizelos responded by insisting that PASOK was vital to the country exiting the crisis. He also pledged to be innovative in terms of the party’s strategy for the European elections and to draw up candidate lists in a “democratic and transparent” manner.
He insisted, though, that the government’s popularity was larger than “is visible to the naked eye.”
