PASOK leader Androulakis attacks Mitsotakis over Turkey-Libya memorandum, Cyprus cable

Androulakis attacks the government on foreign policy

PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis used a speech to the party's Expansion and Solidarity Committee on Monday, 2 November, to accuse the government of putting communication ahead of substance in foreign policy. He dismissed claims of a diplomatic success for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the UN Security Council, saying the premier had simply done his duty, as any prime minister would in similar circumstances. Responding to talk of a national success, he said such success is judged by effectiveness. Androulakis argued that the results of the current line are mostly communication rather than substance. He framed the party's contest as a national and social struggle rather than one of partisan patriotism, and urged that the country turn a page.

“National success is judged by effectiveness.”

The Turkey-Libya memorandum and the Cyprus cable

Androulakis said the government had had seven years to handle the Turkey-Libya memorandum and had failed to do so. He cited Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, who had said the 'gaping wounds' with Libya were closing, and argued that eastern Libya's confirmation of the memorandum proves the opposite. He called that outcome a failure. On the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnector, he flagged delays in laying the cable and said Athens had never provided concrete data or a timetable to parliament. He asked the prime minister to inform parliament and the Greek public about the schedule of a project he described as having high economic cost and vast geopolitical importance. Androulakis also questioned what 'calm waters' actually meant, listing the memorandum, the 'Blue Homeland' doctrine that he said Ankara is moving to legislate, and Turkish obstacles to the cable as possible examples. Androulakis said the cable must be completed under international law.

“This project concerns our sovereign rights and must be completed under the rules of international law. Nothing less and nothing more.”

Venizelos sides with the prime minister

A few hours before Androulakis spoke, Evangelos Venizelos, a former deputy prime minister and former PASOK leader, gave an interview to Meganews Radio 104.6 in which he backed Mitsotakis's stance at the UN, for the second time within two days. Asked about the opposition's readiness to help the government build a unified diplomatic position, Venizelos said it had not been asked to. He argued that in recent years politics had produced conflict rather than consensus on strategy, and that this conflict was bound to sharpen in a pre-election period. He said the country's international affairs would not wait for Greece's domestic political calendar.

“When the country speaks at the UN, and especially before the Security Council, it is the country that speaks.”

Party expansion and fresh criticism in parliament

The committee announced 21 new members, including academics and local government officials. Separately, PASOK MP Michalis Katrinis, speaking from the floor of Parliament, said the apparent absence of a national strategy had led to the current diplomatic impasses and failures. He asked why Mitsotakis had not requested a UN Security Council resolution condemning the memorandum, and why he had not denounced it at the UN General Assembly a month earlier. Katrinis also demanded accountability for damage at Kotroni and the cost of restoring it. He requested full information on the terms of an option to buy three additional KC-390 transport aircraft.

The New Helsinki proposal and wider concerns

Androulakis proposed a 'New Helsinki' to address the crisis in Greek-Turkish relations. Under his plan, the EU-Turkey customs union, launched in 1996, would be upgraded through a modern legal text that also includes automated economic sanctions whenever Turkey violates the sovereign rights of Greece and Cyprus. He also said that US choices had destabilised the Middle East, and that Donald Trump was moving toward an agreement with Russia in the absence of Europe, which he said put the European Union in a precarious position. He called for a single European foreign and defence policy. He added that Greeks pay billions of euros a year on armaments, while other European countries devote comparable sums to health and education.