Apostolos Panas, the PASOK member of parliament for Chalkidiki, has triggered a political row after suggesting his party could one day work with the Greek Left Coalition, the party founded by former prime minister Alexis Tsipras. His remarks drew an immediate and sharp response from government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis.
Speaking on the television channel of the financial newspaper Naftemporiki, Panas said he saw the Greek Left Coalition as a party that moves within the axis of social democracy, and questioned why obstacles should be raised against cooperation when there was no substantial political basis for doing so.
Asked by journalist Dimitris Kairidis whether his position was shared by other PASOK members, Panas spoke of what he called the historical political origins that exist within a party, pointing to shared roots between the two political spaces.
PASOK distances itself from the remarks
The comments set off intense discussion within PASOK. Sources close to party headquarters on Charilaou Trikoupi Street moved quickly to clarify that the remarks reflected Panas's personal opinion and did not represent official PASOK positions.
PASOK, formally the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, is Greece's main opposition party, currently led by Nikos Androulakis. The Greek Left Coalition is the party led by Tsipras, who previously served as prime minister at the head of the left-wing Syriza party before launching his new political project.
Marinakis links remarks to PASOK program dispute
The government seized on Panas's comments to press the opposition over what it described as PASOK's true intentions. Marinakis said that just days after what he called PASOK's revelatory announcement that Tsipras had copied 80 percent of its program, Panas had come forward with statements that covered the remaining 20 percent separating the two parties.
Marinakis added that no statement from Panas had been needed for everyone to see that Androulakis's PASOK had slid onto the path of populism and extreme rhetoric. He said it was now clear that PASOK had become a satellite party of Tsipras.
