The slogan “PASOK is here, strong and united” was heard repeatedly at the main event marking the 40th anniversary of the PASOK party that took place this evening. As it was expected, Former Prime Minister and PASOK President Giorgos Papandreou was absent from the event. When current PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, who is also Vice-President and Foreign Affairs Minister in the Greek coalition government, commenced his speech, he said: “I am very sorry Giorgos Papandreou is not here tonight. I think that his spirit is here with us, but a prior obligation to take part in a seminar organized by the Royal Bank of Scotland, did not allow him to be physically with us.” In reference to the cries and discontent expressed during last Monday’s celebrations, he commented that such expressions are undermining democracy and do not, in any manner, express PASOK party members. He said that those “noise makers” are not part of the democratic party. In response to his decision to become part of a coalition government with New Democracy, he stated that he “fought in order to avoid a referendum and the IMF in 2009. Those who make comments of betraying the democratic party have no recollection of what happened back then.” At the end of his speech he stated that “We move on all together, all those that vote for PASOK. This is my precondition, being a PASOK voter” and added that “the democratic party, PASOK, is not the missing part of some other party, but the third pole, the solution that guarantees the future of our country”. The first speech at the event was delivered by former Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, who was cheered by the attendees. “Some are still stuck in the past and insist on practices impossible for today’s Greece to follow” and on the possibility of early elections he warned by saying “ruling parties with no future of ruling, are shrunk.” He also indirectly criticized Giorgos Papandreou by saying “let us just consider the damage the phrase ‘there is money’, once said, has made.” “It will take some time to stabilize the country’s debt issue. The process is both long and painful,” he added. Simitis also noted that the party’s goal is to set the basis for a new, large movement, with renewed ideas and solidarity that will guarantee the development and acceleration of the country.
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