PASOK, The 58, Plan Olive Tree Movement

With his once-dominant and former ruling party on the edge of extinction, PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos is aligning himself with The 58 Initiative, a group of academics and intellectuals who are trying to unify the country’s fractured center-left movement. Venizelos and The 58 leaders are due to meet to talk about creating a political group along the lines of Italy’s Olive Tree so that the Socialists can try to stave off what looks like a dismal showing in the May elections for Greek municipalities and the European Parliament. PASOK, a partner in the coalition government headed by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. is registering at 3-5 percent in polls – lower in at least one. The major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) has taken the lead over Samaras’ New Democracy Conservatives. Floundering and losing its base after its near-unconditional support for austerity measures the government is imposing on the orders of international lenders, PASOK hopes that tying itself to The 58 will keep it viable. SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, who opposes the pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions the government implemented, has predicted disaster for the ruling parties and said he will come to power if they are repudiated. That could leave PASOK gone, a precipitous fall for the party that won the 2009 elections with 44 percent of the vote. Venizelos, who earlier said he wouldn’t work with the initiative, now is due to meet its leaders on Feb 20 to discuss the new coalition’s name and symbol, criteria for joining the group and arranging a conference in early March. A second meeting is scheduled for Feb 21 with the participation of other political parties and movements that support the initiative, such as the Agreement for New Greece, formed by PASOK outcast and former minister Andreas Loverdos, whose party has failed to show up in surveys with any backing.  

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