Former SYRIZA minister Nikos Pappas has called for the immediate convening of the party’s statutory bodies amid growing internal tensions following Alexis Tsipras’s announcement of his new political initiative, ELAS. Speaking on Athens 98.4 radio on Monday, 22 June 2026, Pappas framed the issue as one of strategic clarity, timing, and political readiness — directly referencing Socrates Famellos, the party’s recently appointed coordinator.
A call for institutional action
‘The party’s bodies must be convened — by any means necessary,’ Pappas stressed. ‘Whether by decision of the Secretary-General or in accordance with the party’s statutes, there is no obstacle preventing this.’ He described such a meeting as an ‘obvious process of evaluation, updating, and refinement’ — one needed to give SYRIZA’s strategy a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Strategy must become concrete
Pappas insisted that the party’s strategy must move beyond abstraction: ‘More and more people recognize that it needs a timeline, specificity, and relevance — in common parlance, it must become “taleraki” — i.e., actionable and tangible.’ Referring to comments by MP Christos Giannoulis, he welcomed the fact that debate over a defined timeframe is gaining ground. ‘No one can conceive an electoral strategy with an open-ended horizon,’ he said.
No freezing of the programme
He recalled Famellos’s March statement declaring the party ‘ready for elections’, adding pointedly: ‘We cannot sign a pact that says we don’t need to prepare for elections.’ Pappas also raised concerns about SYRIZA’s participation in the Thessaloniki International Fair (DETH), hinting at delays or uncertainty in articulating the party’s positions. ‘No one has the authority to hide the programme — no one has the mandate to put it in the fridge,’ he stated.
Two possible paths ahead
Pappas outlined two diverging options for the party’s immediate future: either ‘a path of individual, isolated negotiations over each person’s personal future’, or ‘a coordinated, collective course’. This distinction carries particular weight in the current context — following Tsipras’s departure and the formation of ELAS, SYRIZA members are urgently seeking answers about the party’s role, structure, and prospects.
Questions for the leadership
Pappas posed direct questions to the party leadership: Does Famellos have the authority to draft the pre-election programme? Is he responsible for preparing candidate lists — particularly as part of a potential broader alliance?