PASOK in Troubled Waters After Third Place in Polls and Andreoulakis-Liakouli Outburst

The incident that occurred on Wednesday (20.03.2025) during the meeting of the parliamentary group between Nikos Andreoulakis and Evangelia Liakouli changed the dynamics within the official opposition party. The intensity with which the president of PASOK attacked the party’s MP unsettled even his own allies. ‘We all froze,’ said some MPs, describing the emotions that dominated afterward. Many believe these events are linked to PASOK’s poor polling image and the fact that Zoe Konstantopoulou moved to second place while PASOK slipped to third. This seems to have put significant pressure on the leader of the official opposition, who yesterday had an outburst without serious cause, according to sources. The timeline of the incident began when Nikos Andreoulakis, speaking about PASOK’s stance on the pre-trial investigation based on Christos Triantopoulos’ statement wanting to go directly to the judicial council, asked if anyone had questions. Evangelia Liakouli, a Larissa MP and justice spokesperson, took the floor saying they should be informed analytically about the issue since as a member of the Pre-trial Investigation on behalf of PASOK, she didn’t know how to react. She mentioned that she should have been invited to the previous day’s meeting with Andreoulakis himself, his close communication team, and Milena Apostolaki. Sources say all this was said in low tones but Nikos Andreoulakis reacted very strongly. Shouting, making gestures, and speaking disrespectfully, he told Evangelia Liakouli that no such meeting occurred. ‘That’s in your imagination. No Milena decided anything. I am the president. I decided the Pre-trial, I decided the motion of censure, I decided the party’s stance on the Triantopoulos matter,’ he said. The intense discussion continued with Andreoulakis addressing the party member telling her he wouldn’t allow her to disrupt the parliamentary group meeting with lies and fantasies. ‘I won’t tolerate games with the unity of the party. Stop poisoning and creating tensions.’ This scene disturbed all the MPs as they believed the PASOK MP didn’t intend to create problems for the party. In fact, most said that Evangelia Liakouli appeared unwilling to escalate the intense dialogue she had with Nikos Andreoulakis. For this reason, many called her to express their sympathy. In his introductory remarks at the parliamentary group meeting, Nikos Andreoulakis emphasized: ‘The initiative we took to form a pre-trial committee for Mr. Triantopoulos is fully justified by developments. If we hadn’t taken this initiative, Mr. Triantopoulos would still be a minister.’ Sources from Harilaou Trikoupis highlighted the ‘forward-backward’ moves and responsibilities of the government, which strategically chose to mislead public opinion about the causes of the Tempi tragedy and place implicated ministers beyond reproach. They noted that today, Mr. Triantopoulos is not in his ministerial seat or enjoying the protection the government provided him for two years due to PASOK’s political initiative to submit a request for the establishment of a pre-trial committee, pushing the government and bringing it face-to-face with the public demand for truth and justice.