SYRIZA to decide next step in new meeting
SYRIZA’s central committee is due to hold an emergency meeting Thursday in an attempt to find a way to settle the growing rift within the party over whether the government should agree to a third bailout or not.
The second meeting Tuesday of the political secretariat in two days resulted in a decision to call a gathering of the central committee after several SYRIZA officials belonging to the party’s radical left wing called for the government not to pursue negotiations with Greece’s lenders but to follow an “alternative” path.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke at Monday’s meeting of the political secretariat and insisted that the government has no other viable option than to agree a new bailout with the institutions. He proposed holding an emergency SYRIZA congress, probably in September, to allow party members to debate the issue.
However, the party’s Left Platform, led by ex-Energy Minister Panayiotis Lafazanis is pushing for the congress to be held now, before a third bailout has been agreed.
The central committee members will have to decide whether they will accept either of these options or whether there should be a ballot of SYRIZA members to decide what should be done.
