Die Presse: “Last Chance for Greek Socialists”

"The president Evangelos Venizelos is trying to hide the name PASOK behind the electoral coalition "Elia". The elections will show if this will save his party" notes the Austrian newspaper in its subtitle entitled "Last Chance for Greek Socialists", which describes and analyzes the situation in PASOK and the perspective view of the upcoming municipal and regional elections and elections to the European Parliament, in almost a month. At the beginning of the publication, its noted that one would be jealous of the president of PASOK Evangelos Venizelos in 2009 when his party had the elections with a percentage of 43.9%, but now sees him as "captain of a sinking ship". Continuing, it states that one month before the elections the party decided to "hide" behind the name of the electoral coalition "Olive", while the percentages in the polls are ranging between 5-6%, one seventh of the vote 2009.

The Socialists, as mentioned in the article, collapsed under the weight of the debt crisis for around two years, from 2009 to 2011, had to face alone an increasingly worse situation. The then leader of PASOK, George Papandreou, had to acknowledge the crucial year of 2010 the bankruptcy of the country, to bring international creditors and with his party to decide the first savage cuts in salaries and pensions in the public sector, removing thus the core of voters, which so far haven't forgiven the party". Many of them, as added, went to the "radical left" of SYRIZA of the young and dynamic leader Alexis Tsipras, who managed without inhibitions attacks against the political establishment, the austerity policy and European devotees, but the big question is, if the radical left coalition will establish itself as a mass party, as a "second PASOK", or if the left Centre will be able to be reshaped.

According to the report, PASOK has no time for this. Then the publication notes that within PASOK Venizelos has to deal mainly with one opponent, Papandreou, Prime Minister between 2009 and 2011 and son of the party founder Andreas Papandreou. He had no choice for the leadership of the party in 2007, but after the collapse of his government had to anoint a successor of Venizelos. It's also noted that in the latest votes in the Parliament Papandreou differed from the party line, while in the electoral coalition "Olive" fans don't participate, as well as Papandreou candidates, with one exception, in the ballot for the Euro Elections.

"Die Presse" emphasized that with the friction of the old guard the core of the problem is ignored, namely that only a new, indestructible leader of the party could attract voters, but Venizelos saw the contrary, that of no influential and independent candidates represented in "Olive". According to the newspaper, Venizelos invests time, hoping that with the overcome of the debt crisis he will reverse again the preference of voters, while on its side SYRIZA continues to have difficulties to convince the wider area of the Centre and a weak representation in unions, but whether fate changes again change in favor of PASOK will be seen in the upcoming crucial elections.