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Venizelos described the election result as a heavy defeat for the party and him

Venizelos described the election result as a heavy defeat for the party and him

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos on Thursday (29/01/2015) addressed a joint meeting of the party's new parliamentary group and the political council and referred to the election result saying it was a heavy defeat for PASOK, its wing and strategy and for him personally.

He blamed the electoral law for PASOK's small parliamentary group and lashed out at former prime minister and party leader George Papandreou for his unprecedented and miserable actions.

He wished the country all the best but added that if things get worse, PASOK could not be held accountable for this as it had already warned of the risks.
He also said PASOK and the Democratic Bloc will hold a congress in May, without setting a specific date for this.

He said the first priority is the party's parliamentary work, its organized presence and rhetoric in the vote of confidence debate, the close monitoring of the negotiation and the purely institutional stance in the new Greek President's election.

He said time was running out, that rating houses have already downgraded the country, public revenues were lagging and that all major reforms were revoked or questioned. He commented that the new government obviously does not have, at least for now, a clear strategy and sends out contradictory messages.

"The worst thing is there is a feeling in the country that we went back to 2009," he said and wondered which way the so-called bridge programme the government spoke of would lead to.