Konstantopoulou, Varoufakis reject overture from SYRIZA leader
Two minor left-wing parties have both rejected an overture by main opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.
“Mr Kasselakis is a man who fell from the sky. He has come to Greece very recently. He has the image of a political ‘tourist,’ a person being shown around the political life and the life of Greece,” Zoe Konstantopoulou, leader of Course for Freedom, told Real FM on Tuesday.
Konstantopoulou, a former SYRIZA MP and Parliament Speaker from January to September 2015, acknowledged that Kasselakis “does not carry the sins of those who governed, who violated the popular mandate, who violated the referendum mandate, and who implemented the most anti-social policies.” Nevertheless, she added, “he is the leader of a party of which he seized control through a hostile takeover.”
In the same interview, Konstantopoulou criticized the name deal signed between Greece and North Macedonia. “It is an agreement that undermined the prospect of peaceful coexistence with the neighboring people. It falsifies history and violates rights that are guaranteed by international law,” she said, expressing her disagreement with Kasselakis, who has backed the accord signed under a SYRIZA government in 2018.
Yanis Varoufakis, a former finance minister in the SYRIZA administration, was sharper in his criticism of the main opposition leader as he ruled out the prospect of cooperation.
“There will be no invitation from Stefanos Kasselakis because if he invites us to a discussion, the oligarchs will ‘cut off his funds’,” Varoufakis told Parapolitika radio on Tuesday.
He also ruled out working with Course for Freedom. “Have you seen them attacking any oligarch?” he asked.
Public surveys have shown Course for Freedom polling above the 3 percent threshold, while the MeRA25 partyremains below.
