“My father in his will gave me only one thing – his name. His work and his history belong to the Greek people and Greek history,” said the former prime minister and parliamentary candidate of Achaia for PASOK-KINAL. George Papandreou in the main ERT newsletter.

Regarding with the great conflict PASOK – SYRIZA on the occasion of Andreas Papandreou and his legacy, write down:

“My father in his will gave me only one thing – his name. A huge honor. But his work and his history do not belong to me either, they do not belong to anyone, they belong to the Greek people and Greek history. And we have a strange relationship with history, which we try many times to assign to such symbols as the Parthenon, the flag, our fighters, when we have to discover and study history. And if we are to learn from and honor the story of Andreas Papandreou, we must see what his struggle is. Andreas Papandreou brought so that Greece could experience for the first time a deep democratic left, far from ideologies, dogmatism, centralism, far from logic, that there is a left power of populism or authoritarianism that knows all the solutions. He came with the logic that people should say the word. And I don’t even like the logic that Andreas is the savior we should emulate. Andreas didn’t believe in saviors, and neither should we. Andreas succeeded in unleashing the forces of Hellenism. Millions of people who believed, but they believed not just in a person, they believed in the liberation and potential of the Greek people. In other words, he managed to inspire hope, optimism, confidence that Greece can. That we can make a difference, and that, I think, has also been a concern for the traditional left. Obviously, the establishment and the right. Of course, there was also the dirty 89th, because it essentially broke the perception of the establishment, which wants to control and see power as prey. This is what Andreas Papandreou brought, the confidence that Greece can. And this, I think, is both the agenda and the stakes of these elections. Let’s finally get away from the perception that the state is loot.

“New Democracy, Mr. Mitsotakis talks about self-confidence. I think he basically wants a monarchy. So he doesn’t want a partnership. On the other hand, I don’t know what SYRIZA wants, because she only talks about a cooperation government if it’s the first one, and she voted for a simple proportional one. So I wonder if they really believe in partnerships. What is the spirit of cooperation? If we fight for a blanket on how to share the booty, of course nobody wants cooperation because they basically want to have arbitrary use of that power. We would not like such cooperation. We will not allow surveillance of Apple, suppression of the press by advertising, and management’s perception of the tragedy at Tempe by customers. Certainly not super profits in large energy companies and the impoverishment of the Greeks, not the constant privatization of even water, but also the degradation of health and education. Certainly not the management of the money of the Greek people through commissions, emergency laws.”

“If there is a desire to change Greece, not to see the strength and how we will distribute posts and trophies, if we want to change Greece, move to a digital green era of the fair, strengthen and change education, health, welfare, help Greece to be a modern democratic a country that is deeply democratic, with rules so that young people who go abroad can also feel worthy, then there are opportunities for cooperation. Then there is the possibility of software convergence. So in the next few days they will have to clarify whether they want this and what their policy lines are.”

“Introductory contacts did not fail and are necessary. In my experience, dialogue is always helpful. Dialogue allows us to understand where our real differences lie and whether there is room for problem solving. “Megaphone diplomacy creates tension and breeds more extreme views and often voter hunting around a solution,” he said.

He also added that “regardless of who wins, we must be the first to take advantage of the climate that has developed recently after the earthquakes. This was also done during my tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs. When we rushed to help during the earthquakes of 99, a very positive climate was created between the peoples, and this helped us to sit down at the dialogue table and really be very close to solutions and see real problems and real intentions within 10-15 years. I don’t understand why we should be afraid to sit down with the Turks and discuss whether we are confident in our own positions, as I have always stated very specifically, very honestly and, of course, with red lines. It’s better that they know exactly what our position is than to have a phobia and speak through a bullhorn.”

“Let me remind you that in 1975, with the change in the Constitution, it was the New Democracy that introduced Article 16 and Andreas Papandreou said that we must expand the field of those who can create university schools, such as GSEE, self-governments, chambers, cooperatives. I think this article needs to be changed for a different reason. We’re in a mess right now with private, unregulated colleges, and so on. regulated. So we have to adapt. But I will say something else. Article 16 should be changed, and we should support a public university that is very centralized, bureaucratic, liberates university powers, has universities that can decide what degrees to give, what changes, what new problems will arise, what kind of exams they are. Let’s not align kids in courses, let there be different talents, let a decentralized university be able to connect with a region that is not connected today, and more universities that help canteens.”

Finally, he stressed: “We export students when needed and there is a huge global demand for education. Greece is the perfect place. We introduced the law in 2011. We voted for the opening of universities. Unfortunately as soon as we left it was canceled and we returned. So our education needs serious radical changes.”

Source: ERT