The Alternate Minister of National Defence Panos Rigas, in an interview he gave on Tuesday 28 May 2019, at the OPEN TV Channel, stated among other things the following:

“At this point, the result of the European Parliament Elections is undoubtedly a setback for us. We have received the message of the citizens’ discontent towards SYRIZA, a message that was expressed either through abstention or through supporting other smaller parties of the progressive arc. At the same time, it is clear that society is exhausted from the period of austerity and memoranda which has lasted for approximately ten years.

We, on our part, will continue on the same strategy. This obviously does not mean that mistakes have not been made at a tactical level, but at a strategic level we will keep on the same policy, that is to defend the people who have suffered in recent years. Our own political plan does not adhere to austerity and this will be demonstrated even more through our actions on the way to national elections. The dilemmas in national elections are different than the ones in European Parliament Elections. They concern the head of the government, the country’s future.

I repeat, we have received the message. It has been a hard period, since we took over a country with a huge financial problem, almost on the verge of destruction. It is probably true that some aspects of the party demonstrated traces of arrogance, but not to a great extent and surely they are not compared to the toxicity and personal affronts of the current period, for which SYRIZA is not to blame, under any circumstances. It is not just about the political parties’ chosen rhetoric. It is about the manner in which some news centres have shaped a completely toxic environment. On the way to the national elections, we will try to convince that the challenge is of a different nature, that of governing“.