Stergios Kalpakis resigned as secretary of the Central Committee of SYRIZA

Stergios Kalpakis resigned from his position as Secretary of the Central Committee of SYRIZA-PS.

According to avgi.gr in his letter to the President of SYRIZA-P.S. Socrates Famellos he clarifies that he will not be a candidate in the next elections and that he remains in SYRIZA-P.S “with the hope that there will soon be positive developments in the direction of convergence, unity and reconstitution with the aim of a strong progressive pole against the South-West. My only concern, as a simple soldier, is that our space in the next elections is united and not wounded.”

The letter from Stergos Kalpakis reads as follows:

Syncronous President,

Last July I was elected Secretary of the C.E. after your extremely honourable proposal, in order to serve the political project of the 5th Congress of the party for a strong SYRIZA – PC, a leading player in the cooperation of progressive forces. Ten months later, the party’s political plan has been overturned by reality itself.

On the one hand, the recent congress decisions of PASOK and New Left have cancelled the possibility of a progressive electoral alliance or a joint progressive ticket. On the other hand – and especially this – the imminent founding of a party by former Prime Minister and former President of SYRIZA – PS, Mr. Alexis Tsipras, has created completely new facts in our field.

The party in its collective decisions, by very large majorities, correctly dealt with the resignation and the political activity of S. Tsipras’s resignation and his activities as a key event, stressing the importance of convergence with the aim of unity and reconstruction of the progressive space. These decisions were in line with the views of the overwhelming majority of the party’s members and voters.

However, to date, there have been no visible possibilities for convergence, leaving a large gap between what our world has decided and desires and what is happening. We are not primarily responsible for this. Nevertheless, time is running out, everyone’s uncertainty is increasing as we get closer to the elections, the party’s image is suffering and this is leading us to a new internal crisis which must immediately subside because our space cannot afford any more introversion.

At the beginning of the year and then before K.I had asked for insight into Mr Tsipras’ plan, foreseeing the danger, as time goes on, that the party will reach a point where it will not be able to implement any plan. I was not listened to. Over the last month – repeatedly and publicly this time – I have called for faster moves towards convergence. Even today, just a week before Mr. Tsipras’ announcements, we have no picture of the possibilities and chances of a convergence.

This situation cannot continue any longer, especially when I have been warning for so many months about the dangers and deadlocks and even today the facts are not known. At the same time, I believe that the last thing SYRIZA – PC needs today is introspection with a confrontation between President and Secretary. For these reasons, I hereby submit my resignation from the position of the Secretary of the PC, hoping that it will serve to its due extent as a signal of anxiety for an acceleration of developments.