N. Androulakis: My candidacy is not based on interests

“My candidacy is not based on interests, you did not see me constantly on the channels in the previous years, my tweets were not constantly a topic in the bulletins”, underlined the candidate for the leadership of the Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, speaking to friends and members of the faction in Patra.

“Many times my work was not learned, about the arms embargo in Turkey, about rescEU and other issues”, added Mr. Androulakis. “But I feel that I am one of you and I am very proud of this path, which creates the feeling of renewal, this must be the new. The new is what will fascinate that will make the citizens feel that we are not tied to “Chairs. That we are one of them, for them. From people to people, as we have been for many decades.”

“All of us here in Patras understood today that this gathering is not a gathering of a small party but of the renewed PASOK that is coming back strong in the country’s political foreground,” he stressed. “There must be a real choice on the right. Why is not Mr. Mitsotakis worn out? Because quite simply a large part of society is afraid that it will be worse with them. No, with us it will be better and we call on the people to come to the side to make this faction strong again, a social democratic force of consistency and progress. ”

“They tell me you are not an MP, nor a minister, then what were they when Andreas Papandreou elected them? They were neither ministers nor MPs. But we forgot our roots, we forgot that a popular movement is not only built in Parliament, it is built in neighborhoods, in villages, in the cities, together with the ordinary citizens who have common anxieties with us “, said Mr. Androulakis characteristically. “This is exactly what I aspire to, to build a popular movement from below, which does not weigh the political cost, which conflicts with the established. The party that is ready to become a river and overthrow everything, because that was PASOK, so it grew “As a party of conflict, overthrow, a party of social justice and the dignity of the people. Why not succeed again? Our political opponents are nothing but giants,” he added.

Mr. Androulakis set as a condition for the renewal of the base, the changes in the party: “How will we renew our electoral base, if we do not make a modern party, a party of meritocracy, which will not behave with regimes, a party that will start from down, it will do its program in regional terms. That’s why we will lay the groundwork first. a popular movement, ready to clash with everyone. ” He spoke of “a party that does not behave like a regime, a party that does not caress the elites, a party that is ready to clash with everything and everyone to bring a better day for our country.”

Referring to the renewal, he stressed that “young people to return will have to see another behavior, a behavior of politicians who do not see the state as a tool of power to win votes in parliamentary elections. But they want politicians who are not tied to the “Politicians who see politics as a function, as a daily struggle.”

For example, his own course: “So what is the renewal that I promise? It is the renewal of my course. The renewal of a course of a man who is just like you. Who fought daily to be elected MEP and secretary of the party. I did not never a rusfetti, I never appointed anyone to get to where I am today and I believe that should be a motivation for young people and politics in general. ”

He also outlined the real unity and not the one that comes with power: “Some people tell me you will not go to the SW on the second Sunday if it does not have autonomy? I answer that I will not go with anyone to share a few ministries and have the so-called artificial “Unity of power. This unity with me is ending, the unity will be at the base, in the world of PASOK, in the positions and ideas for a new Greece, with regional programs from below.”

“I guarantee you that PASOK will be possible, PASOK is reborn 5 and 12 and in the next parliamentary elections we will return as a party of power, and this is my message, here from Patras, a tangible birthplace of Andreas Papandreou. The party he founded is returning as a protagonist “, he added with intensity. “The choices will be programmatic, valuable. But let ‘s be clear. With a small percentage there is no prospect of government, we will remain in opposition. We are not tied to any form of power and I have no intention of supporting Mr Mitsotakis and “Mr Tsipras. A small percentage is a de facto percentage of the opposition.”

As for the dilemma of anarchy, he stressed that “if Mr. Mitsotakis on the second Sunday needs a few seats, he has already made his choice. Let’s be clear. “He is one. To go with Velopoulos and have a good trip.”

Mr. Androulakis also clarified that “we aspire for something else, that is why we are here today. Not to make a small party that will cooperate with one or the other, but to get a strong double-digit percentage that will change the data and instead of asking us who we will go with, let us ask if they will follow us and our social democratic program, the perspective of the country. ”

And of course, “when we are asked about progressive alliances, the answer is clear. Yes, we are talking to the world of the Left, to our traditional voters and to the younger generations, programmatically, morally, at the grassroots level, in the chambers, in the We have common anxieties about inequalities, the environment, a state of meritocracy, but with this people and not with the leadership of SYRIZA, which humiliated the role of the left, which made the left a government for 5 years with Mr. Kammenos. “We have nothing to say with Mr. Tsipras and the SYRIZA leadership,” he added.

“I say this to have clear accounts the next day. I do not look sideways at either SYRIZA or ND. That is why I stayed here, because I believe that this historic party can and will recover. It is my commitment to all of you. and to each one individually “.

For political autonomy goes through self-determination, said Mr. Androulakis. “Political autonomy is not to measure and measure who you are closest to. Do not redefine yourself. To have a strong value and political weight as a party, a strong party, which responds to everything, so that no one can “He puts it on one line or the other and when you say something and you are pressured not to have to say anything else to balance, because what you say is clear, it is what the Social Democrats believe and fight for all over Europe.”

He estimated that “neither Mitsotakis nor Tsipras can face such a program. Because one talks about the production of the few and the other talks about the many, but without having any production plan for Greece. Because “That’s how they learned to say a lot, but in action and program nothing. So that will be our field of conflict.”

According to Mr. Androulakis, the only way for the Democratic Party to recover is to show clearly to the people its usefulness, to build a new Greece, a resilient productive base with many good jobs, a strong welfare state that will defend all the generations, especially the weakest citizens, the older ones with pensions of dignity and of course a policy for the institutions. “We need a better quality democracy, a democracy that will be a solution, will feel the needs of the people and the citizens will participate because they consider the agony of everyday life to be vital.”

In closing, he sent a message that “we are building this Greece on December 5 and 12. Give me the strength. Take my candidacy in your hands. I am one of you. And all together as a fist, here from Patras, from his land Andrea Papandreou, we are sending a message of victory to all of Greece that the Greek people will have a strong choice in the next parliamentary elections: the choice of PASOK, the choice of progress, the choice of national dignity, the choice of national justice. “Green sun of the flag, will be the sun that will rise again in the next parliamentary elections for all the Greek people, for our children and our grandchildren. We are coming again, the Democratic Party is coming again.”