Editorial Ta Nea: Self-criticism

After two elections and a pandemic to see people still discussing SYRIZA’s self-criticism is a total bore

Party members claim ignorance of all the things that have come to light in recent days.

They believe that if they tightly shut their eyes and seal their ears their governing coalition with Panos Kammenos, minister Nikos Pappas’ “shops”, and revelations about para-state entities will disappear, allowing them to have a calm summer at the centre-left beach of their liking.

Day by day the opportunities are dwindling.

A left-wing that declares its own moral superiority would not have waited for scandals to pop up in order to change the demeanour that it had adopted over the last decade.

A courageous and bold party should not have needed [SYRIZA MP and ex-education minister] Nikos Filis to defend its history.

A true leader would not have hidden behind a poor redux of the political scandals of 1989 but instead would have assumed his share of the political responsibility before becoming further exposed.

In SYRIZA even internal party procedures such as a meeting of the Central Committee for Reconstruction are turned into labs for manufacturing enemies.

Those responsible remain stubbornly silent.

Serious political parties – those which leave their mark on the course of a country – are not holidaymakers and they are certainly not ostriches to put their heads in the sand.

SYRIZA is battling to be the first party never to remove its head from the sand.