Former members of the main opposition party SYRIZA have announced the formation of a new parliamentary group.
An event was held on Monday where eleven lawmakers announced the formation of the group.
The New Left group’s leader, former Interior Minister Alexis Charitsis, said:
We want a new, modern, European Left, a reliable, militant, visionary Left, a broad and open-minded Left that speaks with honesty and clarity.
He said Greek politics was in a serious crisis, manifested in the divisive course of their former party SYRIZA. Alexis Charitsis added:
There is a need to put forward a wholesome, ambitious plan that will provide answers to the big issues of our time: climate crisis, social inequalities, and the overall quality of democracy in the 21st century. New Left will fight the big battle of the June 2024 European elections with progressive ideas that will translate into actions.
The lawmakers rebuked SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis for the party’s “undemocratic” governance.
The resigned names include former Government spokesperson Dimitris Tzanakopoulos; one of the party’s founders Meropi Tzoufi; former Alternate Social Solidarity Minister Fotiou Theano; former Alternate Foreign Minister Sia Anagnostopoulou; former Deputy Labor Minister Nasos Iliopoulos; former Labor Minister Efi Achtsioglou; former Interior Minister Alexis Charitsis and lawmakers Ozgur Ferhat and Huseyin Zeybek – both representing the country’s Turkish minority in the Western Thrace.
Former Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and former member of the party’s central committee Peti Perka, who quit the party before them, later joined them and formed the New Left group.
