Nikos Androulakis, leader of the Greek opposition party PASOK-Movement for Change, ruled out any post-election cooperation with the ruling New Democracy party and launched sharp attacks on former SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras during a three-hour press conference at the Thessaloniki International Fair on September 13, 2026.
Androulakis said his goal was for PASOK to finish first in the next election, arguing that only the defeat of New Democracy would bring real political change and a different model of governance in favour of citizens. He repeated that PASOK's party congress had already decided against cooperating with New Democracy and that this position would not change, adding that Greek voters would decide any post-election alliances themselves through their vote.
No Deal With New Democracy or the Left
Androulakis said he agreed with the broader European approach of social democratic parties reaching programmatic agreements with parties of the left, but stressed that not everyone on the left held the same views on critical issues. He said this applied to scenarios linking PASOK with officials from Alexis Tsipras's new political movement, insisting that PASOK was not a one-man, rubber-stamp party.
Asked whether he feared a fresh wave of defections from PASOK to New Democracy if his party underperformed expectations, Androulakis said PASOK was fighting, and would keep fighting, as a united party ready to govern. He said that in politics everyone makes their own choices, and told reporters not to look for internal rifts inside PASOK but to look elsewhere, a remark aimed at New Democracy. Asked about the possibility of PASOK working again with former prime minister Antonis Samaras, he said any potential new party founded by Samaras was a matter for New Democracy, not PASOK.
Attacks on Tsipras's Comeback
With PASOK registering low ratings in opinion polls measuring suitability for prime minister, Androulakis was asked whether this reflected a lack of communication skills. He said he did not have the gift of serving lies with a broad smile and had no talent for acting. He pointed instead to his personal background, saying he grew up in a neighbourhood of Heraklion, Crete, attended public school and public university, worked in the private sector, never took a comfortable public post, and had no oligarchs, political fathers or unholy alliances behind him when he entered politics.
He was notably more direct when addressing Tsipras, who has attributed his return to politics to a political vacuum and the absence of a strong centre-left force over the past three years. Androulakis did not dispute that a vacuum existed, but recalled SYRIZA's heavy defeat under Tsipras's leadership of the official opposition in 2023, when the party lost more than 20 percentage points and Tsipras stepped aside. He asked who had been the party's leader at the time, pointedly noting it was the same person now claiming to fill the gap.
Androulakis also referred to recent comments from officials in Tsipras's new movement suggesting PASOK was not a neighbouring political space, and said he had heard Tsipras describe the two parties as competitors rather than opponents. He said voters should judge the consistency between what Tsipras says and what he does. He added that PASOK's MPs had stayed and fought hard in parliament rather than retreating to the back benches to dismantle their own party and the opposition.
Turkey, Chaos and 'National Issues'
Androulakis also addressed comments from Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis, who suggested that without a stable government on election night, Turkey could seize the moment to act. Androulakis said first that Greece would not face ungovernability, and second that the government's framing of "Mitsotakis or chaos" was blackmail and a communication trick, while "Mitsotakis or Erdogan" exposed the government's absurdity. He said PASOK would not accept lessons on national issues, arguing that all of Greece's major national successes carried PASOK's stamp, with the Cyprus issue standing as the most important achievement of the post-1974 era. He dismissed the government's talk of "calm waters" as another communication trick.
Cyprus Cable and PASOK's Programme
Turning to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis directly, Androulakis called for a specific timeline for laying the electricity interconnection cable with Cyprus. He accused the government of a lack of seriousness in managing a project of such geopolitical and energy significance, saying he had never seen such inconsistency in the handling of communication around such serious responsibilities. He said the prime minister should immediately announce an implementation timeline and make clear that Turkish pressure would not be allowed to prevail.
Androulakis went on to defend the details of PASOK's policy programme, insisting it was fully costed. He said he would not refuse to submit it to Greece's National Fiscal Council for assessment, provided the Council analysed every scenario and its impact on the country's fiscal plan.
Questions He Did Not Answer
Androulakis notably avoided answering questions about his own position if PASOK finished second or third in the next election, including whether he would remain party leader or trigger a grassroots leadership contest. He also declined to say whether he would again stand as a parliamentary candidate in Thessaloniki A, his current constituency, or run in a different region outside northern Greece.
