Gennimata opens holes in PM’s ‘progressive’ image
Boosted by her comfortable victory in the recent vote for the center-left leadership, Fofi Gennimata appears determined to occupy the political space eyed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s ruling SYRIZA party.
Kathimerini understands that Gennimata, now heading the once-dominant PASOK socialists, aims to undermine Tsipras’s leftist credentials by attacking the government’s handling of foreclosed property auctions that resumed this week after a hiatus of several months. In an interview with Thema FM Thursday, Gennimata said she had “repeatedly requested protection for small and medium-sized households,” adding that Athens must ask the country’s creditors for permission to suspend foreclosure procedures when these involve primary residences.
Her comments came a day after PASOK spokesman Pavlos Christidis accused the government of lacking “social sensibility” over the issue.
Meanwhile, Gennimata has chosen to underscore the ideological tension in the ruling coalition.
“[SYRIZA] is sharing power with a far-right outgrowth,” she said in the same interview, referring to junior coalition partner and head of right-wing populists Independent Greeks Panos Kammenos.
