"We saved the country and destruction only remained a theory"

George Papandreou spoke to the Parliamentary Team of PASOK about a battle inside and outside Greece and defended his decision to travel to Costa Rica and Israel. “I consider it my honor to be leading the Socialist International”, he stated and attacked the media for “leveling and easy criticism”. “I preside over the international processes and I convey the Greek positions”, he underlined emphatically.

“Easy to pour scorn on everything”, stated PASOK president Papandreou, pointing to his annoyance at the criticism he is receiving. He insisted on speaking  in the first person, declaring “I have a duty to work for the Greece of our dreams”. “I promise to keep showing Greece to the world”.

He proceeded to attack ND and the conservatives around Europe. He accused the northerners of a patronizing quest through the suggestion of placing an overseer, calling it ridiculous. “If you insist, we do not want the money, as I stated a year ago”, he recalled.

Two-pronged attack against ND and the Leftists

He claimed that the conservatives are punishing the south instead of working for development. “If the program is foreign, it will fail, it will not be supported”, he stated to everyone concerned. With these positions, he turned his attack against the left, which refuses to cooperate by making proposals and instead tries to destroy things”. “Their party wants to enhance control of the people’s movements”, he stated.

He defended the tactics he employed for the past two years, when he was PM. “We negotiated hard” he said, and wondered: “What was in the interest of the pensioner and the employee? To lose one thing or to lose everything”? ”We managed to avoid a disaster”, which he claimed only ever existed in theory. He asked the members to be proud of the burden they carried. “If we had considered our political future, we would have defaulted and blamed the ND”, he supported, and asked the members to be grateful to PASOK. “Together with the country, we saved ND from political demise, we would not let them destroy the democratic party”, he continued.

“Ultimate Battle”…

Referring to the coming events, he noted that the decisions to be made by the House in the coming weeks are of historic importance. They will demonstrate whether we can overcome the cape or continue to be thrown about in the rough seas”. He stated that sacrifice is necessary in order to get the country into a phase of growth and development. “The people should be a co-creator”, he stressed and denied talking about a corrupt people.

He described the negotiation underway as the final battle. He raised the dilemma: painful measures or a destructive course? We put the interest of the country first and then our democratic processes in order to keep the movement united and guarantee the state of the country, he said.

He left open the possibility of changing the schedule by en evaluation of the political council. He made it clear, though, that until a new leader is elected, he will be fully exercising his duties as required, “a strong governance by myself on the basis of the resolutions of the National Council of PASOK”, he said.

“As long as the coalition government exists, the ministers should consult with the local PASOK officials”, he stated, indirectly referring to everything that happened with the bill of the Justice Ministry.