Future of SYRIZA and New Left in question after Tsipras memoir

After the release of Alexis Tsipras’ political memoir “Ithaki” (Ithaca), the pressing question is how parallel – and for how long – the paths of the former prime minister, his former party SYRIZA, and the splinter group New Left can remain. Party officials note that current SYRIZA leader Sokratis Famellos is not mentioned in the book, despite references to the turbulent February 2024 congress.

At SYRIZA headquarters, there has long been a sense of alert, as no one knows what the future holds. Most members are waiting for Tsipras’ next move, though that does not mean they do not support the current leader. There are, of course, the more staunch Tsipras loyalists, who are even more eager for developments and do not always hide it. The situation is far from simple. From all of Famellos’ public statements, it is clear SYRIZA does not intend to position itself in opposition to Tsipras. The party’s political secretariat has taken a similar line. “The former president has made clear who he definitely does not want to align with,” a source told Kathimerini. Still, no one harbors illusions: those omitted from the book have not automatically earned a ticket to any new party.

Any further decline in SYRIZA’s polling numbers would raise concerns, and the key question remains when the former leader will make his decisions. “The suitcase cannot travel much farther,” one party insider said, especially now that Pavlos Polakis, the outspoken former minister, has taken up his “weapon” and is expected to confront Tsipras more frequently.

The outlook is even murkier regarding the New Left. Those who once assumed that the group of Alexis Haritsis, Effie Achtsioglou, Nasos Iliopoulos, and Dimitris Tzanakopoulos – though none ever said so publicly – would receive an invitation from Tsipras are now having second thoughts. Tsipras always had a close working relationship with them and governed alongside them until the end, except for Iliopoulos, who left the Labor Ministry to run as SYRIZA’s candidate for Athens mayor in 2019. According to Tsipras, he summoned Iliopoulos to his office to express his disagreement over the four officials’ departure from SYRIZA. He directs sharper criticism at Achtsioglou, who allegedly declined to lead the second election campaign in 2023, and less at Haritsis, whom he says he proposed – after the June elections – as a candidate for the party presidency, a proposal that Haritsis rejected.

Everything suggests the road ahead will be long. For the political landscape to clarify, communication channels among them must be restored, further steps taken, and the former prime minister must articulate a clearer ideological direction for his intentions.