Greece’s Syriza party cracked up further over the weekend and is about to officially lose its status as the country’s main opposition. The party’s recently deposed leader Stefanos Kasselakis announced on Saturday the creation of a new political movement, taking at least four MPs with him. Speaking to a large cheering crowd outside his new headquarters, the U.S. expat declared that “Syriza has closed its democratic chapter” and positioned himself as the leader of a new, progressive political force. “Today is a joyful day because a movement of democracy, free citizens, and progress is being created,” he said and wished…
Author: Nektaria Stamouli
ATHENS — Greece’s Syriza party is heading for another splintering and potentially the loss of its status as the country’s main opposition. Syriza’s Central Committee decided late Saturday that its recently deposed leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, cannot be a candidate in the party’s upcoming leadership battle. The overwhelming vote against Kasselakis came in a session full of tensions, verbal attacks, booing and boycott efforts. The socialist Pasok party is also in the process of electing a new leader, in what could be a moment of reckoning for the future of the country’s center left. The left-wing Syriza, which governed Greece from…
ATHENS — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is appealing to his political base and signaling a rightward shift through his choice for the country’s next European Commissioner. Mitsotakis nominated the three-term governor of the region of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, for Greece’s slot at the top table in Brussels. He is considered a hardliner on domestic politics and national identity — including on Greece’s long-running name dispute with North Macedonia — and has been accused of cozying up to the far right. “There is definitely a right-wing shift and a symbolic move by Mitsotakis to show that he is strengthening…