According to a statement released by Papandreou, the formal declaration of the founding of his new party, along with the announcement of its name, symbols and goals, will take place at a special event on Saturday at the Benaki museum.
Meanwhile, he released a statement on his web site about the new political party. He said that the party, whose name he did not reveal, aims to contest the upcoming January 25th general election.
Below is the full statement (translation by The TOC).
"A new year, a new beginning. The time has come for the next big step of the progressive forces of the country.Obviously the announcement is Papandreou's formal break with PASOK, the party which was founded by his late father Andreas Papandreou.
The time has come to build, all together, the new political home which will house our progressive values, the values which united us and unite us.
Listening to your voice, the demand of thousands of citizens from all of Greece, we are taking the initiative and extending an invitation to all progressive citizens to participate in this new beginning.
Tomorrow (January 3rd), at 5.30pm in the amphitheater of the Benaki Museum – Piraeos St. 138, we are not founding just another party.
From tomorrow, we are taking part in the launching of a Movement, which can and must rise to the major challenges which concern the country and the Greek people.
A Movement with which we want to secure the presence of the real forces of progress in the next parliament, the forces which believe - and have proven their belief in practice with real democratic reforms – that Greece will not definitively surpass the crisis, will not fully recover, if it doesn’t change fundamentally, if it doesn’t change its foundations, on the basis of a ‘Greek Plan’ and Institutions that work – with the citizen as an ally.
A Movement which will work in the next parliament to secure all of the necessary preconditions for a safe and final exit from the crisis.
A Movement which will give all of its powers to make a reality of the transition to a Post-clientelist Greece, with a vision of building a Greece of Justice and Creativity.
A Movement, the creation of which will be completed with an open, participatory conference – which will be programmed for after the elections, where all will be decided. By the Movement, with broad participation, with principles of self-organization from the base. As befits a Movement which reflects the principles of Democracy, Socialism and Sustainable Development.
A Movement, which puts Greece and its citizens first – not all manner of clientelist and other interests.
With my wishes for a happy New Year for all Greeks, I issue a call for participation.
From tomorrow, the 3rd of January.
Let’s go."
His position in the party after his political downfall a couple of years ago has been very shaky. He was elected PASOK leader in 2004 (after Costas Simitis passed on the ring of power to him) and finally became Prime Minister in October 2009 after (suspiciously) defeating Costas Karamanlis.
He was accused of working underground with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) towards some sort of bailout deal before the national elections in 2009, as well as for delaying to deal with the financial crisis. He is also continually slammed for signing the original bailout deal with the so-called Troika of creditors (European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund) in May 2010 which tied Greece hand and foot to its lenders as well as was the foundation that led to all the other Memorandums.
Following his announcement on his web site, and before the formal announcement on Saturday afternoon, PASOK issued a statement which slammed Papandreou's move characterizing it as "immoral" and "absurd". At the same time it accused him of betraying the memory of his father, the late Andreas Papandreou, PASOK's founder and long-time leader.
PASOK stressed that George Papandreou is not forming a new party because of political differences, but to settle a personal score (with current PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos) and to have his own "personal, wholly-owned party."
"There's no political reason, and there neither is any historical or moral basis. The motives are strictly personal," PASOK said.Parallel to this, the statement also blames Papandreou for making the "crucial decisions to enter into the original (bailout deal) in 2010".
The split in PASOK is also expected to resurface some bright characters from PASOK who fell under great controversy and scrutiny in the past. One such character is Michalis Karchimakis. As expected he said that he is going to join Papandreou's new movement (because he probably feared that Venizelos would not include him on his electoral lists because of his scandalous past - Read about that by clicking HERE).
Of course Karchimakis is just one of many that are expected to follow. The "movement" is expected to resurface other former MPs (m@lakes) such as former Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis, Simon Kedikoglou and others.
George's move is also expected to steal many voters from SYRIZA since most of this party's supporters are former Papandreou fans.
Sources in Greek - TOC, ProtoThema, enikos, Defencenet
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