Democratic congress with the 2017 register, on the basis of which Marinos Sizopoulos was elected and an investigation into the party's finances, the Initiative Group for the Salvation and Reorganization of the EDEK, whose members declare themselves EDEKites and make it clear that they do not intend to form a new movement or party.
The Group held a press conference today which was attended by, among others, MEP Dimitris Papadakis, Former Secretary of the Central Committee, Former Member of the EDEK Political Bureau, Golden Touloupis, the President of the Local EPP Committee of Cheriou, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Cheriou, Kostakis Kalogirou, the Vice President of OELMEK, Themis Polyviou, the Former President of the Youth of the EPP, Stephanie Andreou, the President of the EDEK Larnaca District Committee, Panagiotis Evaggelidis, the Resistance fighter, Dimitris Filippides, the Former Youth President and Former President of the EDEK Nicosia District Committee, Nemos Koutsokounis, the Former Deputy Mayor of Larnaca, Petros Christodoulou, the Resistance leader, Former Head of the Vassos Lyssarides Guard, Stelios Potamaris Mr.
Yiannis Pierides, Former Member of the Political Bureau and Central Committee of the EPP, said that the EPP has been in a whirlwind since 2017 and not since some people went to court.
The recent congress of the 18-hour warning and the participation of the 90 members present was - he said - "what made us decide that we must finally do something important, the cup overflowed."
The recent congress of the 18-hour warning and the participation of the 90 members present was - he said - "what made us decide that we must finally do something important. He added that "authoritarianism and falsehood have been established as a method of action by the current de facto leadership of the EPP which, despite the fact that it is considered deposed by the majority of its members, insists on holding the party by tooth and nail under its control and policing".
He went on to say that "neither the court decisions, nor our own constant exhortations, nor the recent appeals from MPs, have touched M Sizopoulos and those around him".
He added that the "repeated violation of the statute, the circumvention of the decisions of the party organs and the systematic alteration of practices made by Marinos Sizopoulos with the tolerance or support of a small group of cadres, have destroyed the democratic functioning of the EPP", citing as an example that in 2017 the EPP's PGA unanimously decided the party's position on the 2018 budgets and the next day - he said - Mr. Sizopoulos voted exactly the opposite.
Pierides said they are demanding the restoration of the party's register by removing from it those who were irregularly and substitutively added by Sizopoulos' team and the return to the register of those who were deliberately deleted from it. "The 2017 register can be the basis and guarantee for the smooth functioning of the party," he said.
They also want, he added, the convening and holding of a new congress with guaranteed democratic procedures acceptable to all. "A congress that will chart the new course of the EPP according to its socialist ideology and the patriotic line that has historically characterized it. How will we achieve this? By our active participation in mass and democratic processes that will not be questioned from anywhere."
It is for this reason, he continued, that together with many other historical cadres and regardless of their individual differences, they have taken the initiative to organise a mass gathering of members and friends of the EDEK on a date to be announced soon.
Asked in case Mr. Sizopoulos insists and their efforts are not successful, if they are thinking of moving on to something more radical, the establishment of a new movement or party, Yannis Pierides replied "at this stage we are not discussing anything else. We are EDEKites, we are the EDEK. That is why we will demand the proper functioning and reconstitution of the party. We are not discussing the creation of another party in general."
Asked about the presidency, he said that they will not take part in this discussion because they are only interested in saving the EDEK.
Asked about the motive of Mr. Sizopoulos and what purposes he wants to serve by remaining in the EDEK, Pierides expressed the view that Marinos Sizopoulos wants "the stamp of the EDEK to play the game he is playing in the political and economic life of the country." Asked to say what he meant by "game" and whether Mr. Sizopoulos has improper, intertwined connections, he replied. There are issues that will soon come to the surface. That's enough for now."
He questioned the tough positions he expresses on the Cyprus issue at the ICO, what he did to promote them in Europe, saying that he even held meetings with parties in Greece years ago.
Louisa Mavrommatis, Former Political Bureau Member, Former EPP Central Committee Member and Former Deputy Mayor of Egomi, also raised the issue of Mr. Sizopoulos' positions on the YESY, "which do not express the party's positions, the party's ideology and do not express the will of the party's voters". In society, she added, there is a belief that Mr. Sizopoulos' positions are "driven purely by personal interests."
The reason they are making this difficult effort to save the EPP, Mavrommatis said, is "a democratic congress, where participants will vote according to their will." Sizopoulos should abandon the de facto position he holds, which is illegitimate and against the statute.
Michalis Terepeis, Former Secretary of the Central Committee and Former Member of the EPP Political Bureau, said that the 2017 congress was held with a register of 9500 members and immediately afterwards, without a decision of collective bodies, Sizopoulos started a process of clearing the register, to which there was opposition. Never, he added, did the list of de-registered persons appear before the SG, noting that 2500-3000 people were removed from the register, some of them still unaware of it.
The register, he continued, was given at the end of August before the last EPP congress where he, as secretary, found that they were added in two months "which Mr. Sizopoulos", about 800 people, who were not on any party register.
EDEK finances
The party fund and party assets are the second major issue that requires serious and in-depth investigation, Mr. Pierides calling for the creation of a committee to investigate the management that has been done, who controls the finances of the EPP and who owns the party's property. "There is a suspicious silence about the EPP office and the Lyssarides apartment building," he said."
Michael Terepeis said that the Lyssarides apartment building has been granted "under a secret contract" for long-term use by a certain company for 3000 euros a month for the entire building, while the company is spreading the word that it rented only the penthouse for 80,000 euros. The family who own the company, he added, have also become members of the EPP. "For us it is clear that there are deals under the table."
Terepeis also referred to the party's cheques that the finance secretary of the EPP had issued. "It is imperative, there must be an investigation into the finances of the EDEK," he said."
The EDEK Salvation Initiative Group also released a text with their responses to allegations - as stated - that Marinos Sizopoulos has made from time to time.
Message from EDEK MPs
Appeal to the party's base, through a democratic congress, is the only solution, the situation in which EDEK has found itself cannot continue as it is, nor can it be the framework of its operation, say in a "message of solidarity" the EPP MPs Kostis Efstathiou and Elias Mirianthous, which was read by Louisa Mavrommatis.
"The quintessence of a socialist and democratic party like the EPP is respect for the democratic principle. This dictates that the collective bodies are elected and function on the basis of freedom of thought, freedom of organisation, respect for the member, the friend of the EPP, the Statute and other opinions."
That is why the announcement of the Congress should be made as soon as possible on the basis of a commonly accepted register, away from rivalries and arbitrariness, Efstathiou and Mirianthous say, adding that only through rebaptism can the party regain its dynamism, rebaptism which presupposes respect for the provisions of the statutes and the principle of democratic legitimacy.
"The EPP has a history, it has a present and it must have a future. A future through its democratic physiognomy and operation", the two EDEK MPs conclude in their message.
Source: CNA
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