Panhellenic Socialist Movement

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Panhellenic Socialist Movement Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα
Abbreviation	PASOK
President	Nikos Androulakis
Founder	Andreas Papandreou
Founded	3 September 1974
Political orientation	Social Democracy Imperialism
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Panhellenic Socialist Movement - Movement for Change
Colours	Green
Anthem	Ο ήλιος ο πράσινος (The green sun)

PASOK is a social democratic party in Greece.

History

Orthodox Period (1974-1996)

Andreas Papandreou founded PASOK along with other anti-Junta resistance members in 1974.

Andreas Papandreou remained president until his death in 1996.

Modernization Period (1996-2009)

After Papandreou's death, party elections happened. Costas Simitis and his more centrist, imperialist "modernizers" wing took over the party, beating the rival "orthodox" faction of Akis Tzochatzopoulos, a corrupt minister of Papandreou's governments. The party's positions changed radically since then, with it adopting a very pro-EU stance. Corruption with in the party and its governments skyrocketed as well.

In 2004, Simitis resigned from the party leadership and George Papandreou, the son of Andreas Papandreou took over. He led the party to a victory in 2009, getting 43%. This was due to New Democracy rapidly losing its voting base (see below).

Collapse and coalitions (2012-present)

After the start of the Greek government-debt crisis, PASOK lost most of its voters, falling down to less than 12.3% by June 2012. In the meantime, Papandreou had resigned from government and Evangelos Venizelos had taken his position.

PASOK participated in the 2012 government along with New Democracy and Democratic Left. To this day, it is the last government PASOK has ever participated in.

In 2014, it formed a coalition with Democratic Left and some other minor parties as it was on the point of being left out of parliamentt

In January 2015, PASOK reached an all-time low of 4.68% and was in the 7th place, almost a third of the percentage it had in the first elections it participated in (the 1974 elections).

In June 2015, Fofi Gennimata assumed leadership of the party and formed a new coalition called "Democratic Alignment", with which she participated in the September 2015 elections.

During late 2017 and early 2018, a new coalition called Movement for Change was formed. In the 2019 elections, the party scored 8.1% and reached the 3rd place.

After Gennimata died in October 2021, Nikos Androulakis assumed leadership and renamed it to PASOK - Movement for Change in a desperate attempt to gain voters back. This was effective, as the coalition had an increase of 3.75% from the 2019 elections in the June 2023 elections.

In opinion polls after mid-November 2023, PASOK has reached the 2nd place again, surpassing Syriza, due to the latter's collapse.

Governments

Papandreou Governments (1981-1989, 1993-1996)

PASOK won the 1981 elections by 48%

During Papandreou's first two terms, many significant changes happened, even though Greece remained a bourgeois republic. Some enterprises were nationalized during this time and as such, the public sector was expanded. Communists that fought with KKE's side in the Greek Civil War were allowed to return in Greece and received special pensions. A free and universal healthcare system was established during the 80s, whereas living conditions improved, as the purchase power of Greeks increased by 26% during the course of the decade. Trade unions and work counclis also received rights, shops had fixed opening and closing times, and social security was established. Safety and education were also improved during this time. A more progressive taxation was introduced. Finally, parental leave was introduced, albeit in a limited scale.

During this time, Papandreou tried to pull Greece out of NATO and the EU but failed, as the majority of the party supported to remain in both. However, he did challenge the US imperialist narrative and somewhat de-puppetize Greece. He also condemned "Israel"'s policies in the occupied Palestinian territories. However, he supported a two-state solution and not an entirely free Palestine.

Simitis Governments (1996-2004)

During Simitis, while infrastructure was upgraded (the so-called "Modernization"), Greece adopted the Euro as official currency and abolished the Drachma in 2001-02, causing a big rise in prices and crippling the purchase power of Greek citizens.

In 1997, the International Olympic Committee selected Athens to organize the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Papandreou Jr. Government (2009-2011)

Karamanlis resigned in 2009, as the Cia allegedly plotted to assassinate him, as he planned the participation of Greece in the construction of South Stream, a Russian gas pipeline connecting Burgas with Alexandroupoli. In order to lose the elections, he told people the actual economic state of Greece and proclaimed austerity measures, whereas PASOK leader George Papandreou (the son of Andreas Papandreou), proclaimed social expenditures that Greece could not actually afford. This led to a financial crisis.

The social expenditures that Papandreou proclaimed caused a deficit in the Greek economy, which made Greece turn to the IMF to get a loan. IMF required Greece to take harsh austerity measures.

The first austerity package got approved on 9 February 2010. It froze all wages of government employees, cut 10% of bonuses and overtime workers' and public employees wages and work-related travel subsidies.

Another austerity package was approved just a month later, in March 2010. On 2 May 2010, the first IMF/EU loan known as the First Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece and commonly referred to as the "first memorandum" got signed, after a request on 23 April of the same year. The European Commission, European Central Bank and the IMF formed the so-called Troika. These measures led to massive protests in Greece and the rise of the so-called anti-austerity movement. 2 days after the memorandum got signed, massive protests happened where 3 people died during the arson of a bank.

Another austerity package was approved by the Parliament in 6 May 2010, privatizing 4,000 companies, cutting wages and pensions and increasing taxes.

In February 2011, massive protests occurred again in all major Greek cities. Protests re-began in May and happened continuously until December 2011. Many private TV channels did not cover the protests during their early days. During May-August 2011, an "Indignant Citizens Movement" emerged, inspired by the 15-M Spanish movement. In late May, a "Real Democracy Now!" movement emerged inspired by the Spanish one. The first vote of the People's Assembly in Greece got signed in 27 May 2011. The proceedings were:

• Any corrupt politician should either be sent home or to jail.
• When we, the people, start discussions without fear, fear grips them, inside the parliament building.
• This is not just the politician's fault. It's all our faults, with our selfish attitudes.
• Demonstrations should take place every evening at 6 pm and an assembly at 9 pm.
• Their democracy guarantees neither Justice nor Equality.
• The taxation system is not the same for the rich and the poor. Equal rights for everyone.

A fourth austerity package got signed in June 2011, further cutting wages and pensions and doing more privatizations. Another one got signed in October 2011, reducing the tax-free threshold from 12,000€ to only 5,000€, as well as closing schools and cutting pensions, as well as other measures. In the protests during the same month, there were violent demonstrations and strikes, inspired by the Statesian Occupy Wall Street movement. Communist Party of Greece members and hard-line protesters tried to invade the parliament, resulting in the death of one KKE member.

In 28 October, a national holiday about Greece's refusal to be used as a base for Italy, the military parade officially got cancelled due to protests. The then-President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, was forced to leave.

Papademos Unity Government (2011-2012)

Papandreou resigned on 11 November 2011, due to the protests that happened. A provisional government was formed, led by Lucas Papademos. PASOK participated in the unity government, along with New Democracy and LAOS.

In February 2012, another wave of protests started against the provisional government, since in the 13th day of the same month the parliament approved the sixth package of austerity measures. In fact, the passing of the austerity measures was a precondition for the next €130 billion lending package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to the Greek government, without which the country would have faced sovereign default by 20 March. The Second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece, usually referred to as the "second memorandum" was signed in 1 March. In 20 March, the government finally announced they had defaulted and had rejected another package from Brussels Bailout and were starting to reform the system. On 5 April, people once again demonstrated against the government after a pensioner named Dimitris Christoulas committed suicide by shooting himself, refusing to share the fate of those people who have had to search for food in garbage.

The two major labor unions of Greece warned that the harsh austerity measures would "drive Greece to despair".

Collaboration with Samaras Government (2012-2015)

In May 2012, elections happened, but no government was formed, so new elections happened in June. New Democracy became the first party, acquiring almost 30% of the votes, whereas PASOK fell at less than 12.3% of the votes.

As such, Antonis Samaras became the new Prime Minister.

A new austerity package was approved in October-November 2012.

On 28 April, a new austerity package was signed. The law created a new tax for immovable property that would be defined later. The teachers reacted to the bill by declaring strikes. However, the government prohibited the strikes, proceeding to implement Civil mobilization. The package was finalized on 17 July. The package laid off another 15,000 public employees, among them high school teachers, school guards and municipal policemen.

On 11 June 2013, Simos Kedikoglou, the government's spokesman, at approximately 17:45 EEST announced the shutdown of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), which would make almost 3,000 employees reduntant. This closure was undemocratic.

ERT was dissolved by a Common Ministerial Decision that was enacted by virtue of Article 14B of Law 3429/2005 (regarding the dissolution, merger and restructuring of public companies) as amended by an urgent government Legislative Ordinace (FEK 139/11.06.2013, Issue A').

NET (the main channel) and ET1, which were based in Athens, interrupted programming. So did ET3, which is based in Thessaloniki. Thousands of people gathered in the Radio Hall, the building where ET1 and NET were based and practically ERT's main headquarters, and protested against the decision. This happened in Thessaloniki as well. Analog signal ceased at 22:54 EEST. The last (digital terrestrial television) ERT transmitters were closed at 23:17 EEST. However, 20 seconds later, 902TV, controlled by the KKE, retransmitted the signal and as such got shut down as well. Radio signals stopped at 23:22 EEST. Later on, the ERT World feed got shut down as well. On 12 June, all internet assets of ERT got erased from the Greek internet registry. Massive strikes happened the same day.

However, with the help of EBU initially, ERT's employees, now integrated into the ERT Open initiative, continued to broadcast two of the three channels (NET and ET3) via Internet and satellite signals, and even reopened some analog transmitters. On 24 October, EBU ceased its aid to ERT and as such most signals ceased. ERT continued to broadcast via Internet only. On 7 November, police invaded the Radio Hall (prosecuting 4 people) and later that day, NET ceased broadcasting. Until its reopening on 11 June 2015, ET3 and some radio stations were the only services that never stopped broadcasting.

Democratic Left exited the coalition because of this decision. PASOK still remained though.

In place of ERT, a new organization, NERIT, was expected to start broadcasting on 29 August. However, a transitional and terribly designed one, called Public Television was launched on 10 July instead and got replaced by NERIT on 4 May 2014.

It should be noted that Public Television changed its name within just the first day (as it was called Hellenic Public Television) and changed logos 4 times during its first 2 months of operation. It started normal programming only on 21 August. Before then, the programming did not cover all 24 hours (akin to pre-1996 ERT).

In fact, up until 7 November, Public Television broadcasted from a private studio and it also did not legally exist, as it did not have a VAT.

In 2014, a new austerity package was approved. The bill froze wages and pensions until 2018. It cut public sector expenses, such as the Ministry of Health. It provided that the primary surplus in 2014 would be 2.3% of GDP (€4.19 billion) 5.3% (€11.585 billion) in 2018.

On 4 May, NERIT was launched.

On 31 December, the Parliament was dissolved.