New_Left_(Greece)

New Left (Greece)

New Left (Greece)

Political party in Greece


The New Left (NA; Greek: Νέα Αριστερά, romanized: Néa Aristerá) is a pro-European[2] centre-left to left-wing[2] political party[3] in the Hellenic Parliament. It was founded on 5 December 2023 by eleven independent MPs who left the Syriza party. The president of the parliamentary group is Alexis Haritsis.[4] The New Left officially became a party on 3 March 2024 after its founding conference.

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It is represented in the European Parliament by two former Syriza MEPs, Dimitrios Papadimoulis and Stelios Kouloglou.[5]

History

After the resignation of Alexis Tsipras as president of Syriza, and the subsequent election of Stefanos Kasselakis to replace him in September 2023, there was an internal crisis in the party. The internal party groups "Umbrella" and "6+6" criticized Kasselakis's attempt to move the party towards the center. Kasselakis is considered to be more moderate than Tsipras, wanting the party to emulate the Democratic Party in the United States, a social-liberal party.[6] He was criticized by some Syriza members for his previous support of the centre-right party New Democracy, which currently has a majority in the Hellenic Parliament and is opposed by Syriza.[7][8] The 6+6 faction included deputy Effie Achtsioglou, who finished as runner-up to Kasselakis in the leadership election.

This conflict eventually culminated in the withdrawal of the "Umbrella" faction from the party[9] and the removal of two MPs considered close to it (Peti Perka and Euclid Tsakalotos) on Kasselakis's orders on 13 November 2023.[10] Ten days later, the "6+6" group[11] and nine MPs from it (Sia Anagnostopoulou, Effie Achtsioglou, Chousein Zeimpek, Nasos Iliopoulos, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, Meropi Tzoufi, Ozgur Ferhat, Theano Fotiou, and Alexis Haritsis) withdrew from Syriza.[12]

On 4 December 2023, the eleven independent MPs announced the name and logo of their new party at a scheduled event.[13] The next day, the parliamentary group was officially announced in the Hellenic Parliament.[14] MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis announced his affiliation with the group the same day.[5]

On 1 March 2024, the party's founding conference was held in Athens. The foundation declaration summarised the fundamental positions of the party and announced the establishment of a Transitional Coordination Committee with 238 members.[15][16]


References

  1. "«Νέα Αριστερά» το όνομα των «11»". in.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  2. "Greece". Europe Elects. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  3. Stamatoukou, Eleni (5 December 2023). "After Quitting SYRIZA, Greek Leftist MPs Launch New Party". Balkan Insight. Athens. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  4. Smith, Helena (2023-09-25). "Stefanos Kasselakis: ex-banker who lit up Greek politics to lead Syriza". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  5. "Ο Στέφανος Κασσελάκης με τα δικά του λόγια". ΕΦΣΥΝ (in Greek). 2023-10-21. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  6. "Εκτός ΣΥΡΙΖΑ η "Ομπρέλα" – Το κείμενο αποχώρησης". Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ (in Greek). 2023-11-12. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  7. "Κουβέντα". ΤΑ ΝΕΑ (in Greek). Retrieved 2023-12-10.
  8. "Νέα Αριστερά με ιδρυτική διακήρυξη". ΤΑ ΝΕΑ (in Greek). Retrieved 2024-03-04.

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