Venizelos collecting members and signatures

Evangelos Venizelos will discuss the ideological position and policy proposals of the new PASOK with the top members of the party. The minister of Finance, who will resign once the agreement by the recent Eurogroup is finished, will have a series of meetings with historical members, key ministers and new MPs. If the cabinet allows it, he might start from today.

Meanwhile, his staff has started collecting signatures from the national council. They are aiming at 200 members. It should be noted that the steering body of PASOK consists of approximately 300 members maximum and that at least 100 signatures are needed for a member to be a presidential candidate.

Venizelos’ colleagues declined to respond to Ippocratous yuesterday, members of which said that the economic problem of the party should be blamed on Venizelos and Tassos Giannitsis. At a meeting that was held under George Papandreou, it was found that PASOK does not have enough money either for the conference or to set up polls.

Therefore, they decided that the conference should be moved to a few days later, but the change of leadership should be dealt with on March 18, of course without an officially announced decision.

Behind these moves the team of the minister of Finance identified an attempt to save time. The question they posed was "for whom". "Obviously Christos will need some time to get ready," they answered, meaning Christos Papoutsis. It is true that the minister of Citizen Protection is seriously thinking of entering the succession race. In the last few days, he has been talking daily with members to seek their support, while supporting MPs are already on a "campaign" for his candidacy in their electoral districts.