Greek main opposition MP Polakis faces disciplinary charges for a second (and final?) time

It is the second time that Pavlos Polakis will face the “disciplinary” committee of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, or more correctly the Ethics Committee.

The first time was with the famous photo of him from a feast and while Greece was unde lockdown due to the pandemic in 2020.

Then controversial MP from Sfakia was simply called by STRIZA MPs and ethics cmt. members Gerovasilis – Tzanakopoulos and a recommendation was made to him which he even made sure to communicate himself in the form of a final agreement.

His new appearance is different

Now the second time we are likely to have a harsher ending.

Pavlos Polakis is invited by the Committee, but his expulsion from the Chania ballot paper for the national elections and his removal from the party’s Transparency Sector have preceded his appearance.

This is where Yiannis Ragousis takes over, albeit aligned with SYRIZA president Tsipras, with greater pull within the party, and a “hard line” supporter.

On Tuesday, of course, the Executive Secretariat of the party, a body almost universally in favor of party president Tsipras, will meet. And all of the above will now formalize and institutionaly the break of the former Deputy Minister of Health with the Tsipras system.

Of course, he himself has referred to  the next phase to the collective bodies and indeed in them, for example in the Political Secretariat and Central Committee he will have supporters or anyway a group of executives who do not see positively the whole rupture and especially the pre-election momentum in question.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis will present the positive narrative of his government, he will talk about the minimum wage and the fight will be afoot in SYRIZA, say those in the know. On the other hand, as the insiders also add, it was a golden opportunity for the President of SYRIZA to show his rule over the party.

The “proscritions of journalists, judges by Polakis, is the straw that broke the camel’s back” and there was no more tolerance. Of course, party headquarters unanimously commented on the painful impression of the Prosecutor’s intervention on the Polakis post (“did he really – they say – show the same speed for the wiretappings?”).

Wave of introversion

On the other hand, the “controversy” as well as the Special Court for Nikos Pappas, as well as the expected decision for D. Papagelopoulos, create a new wave of introversion for the Main Opposition party and the wager is that in the time left for the national polls can SYRIZA take those initiatives that will take it to the next day.

On a tactical level, of course, there will be an issue. Pavlos Polakis enjoys popularity among the party base as well as among some higher ranking cadres. And he represents a link with the counter-memorandum movement or the angry “No” of 2015 even though he himself was a minister.