“I remember a sentence you said: ‘Between comrades’ the second is the first“: It’s not like the NBA”. This sentence is a little encouragement and a little warning Alexis Tsipras “Delivery” Syriza To Stefanos Kasselakis, 35 years old, winner of the primaries that led to a high point in the history of the Greek Left Party. The vote crowned a “foreign pope” and eliminated the former labor minister Efi Achtsioglou, a symbol of continuity with Tsipras’ leadership. Hence the proposal that Tsipras, protagonist of European politics in recent years, act as prime minister and also as the face of a Europe that is “other” than EuropeRigor and balanced budgets at all costseven the highest in terms of impact on the most vulnerable sections of the population.
Kasselakis conquers the leadership of the party as a complete outsider and thanks to a curriculum that is anything but orthodox for Syriza. In just a few weeks, the marine contractor went from a complete stranger and former financial operator to the leader of the main political force of the left in Greece. Kasselakis was born in Athens but immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of 14. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics, he worked for five years starting in 2009 Dealer To Goldman Sachsprecisely at the time when Greece was hit by the debt crisis and the radical left was denouncing “them”. Troika dictatorship and from Banks“. A weapon that Kasselakis used in his favor during the election campaign: “If I hadn’t gotten to know capitalism from the inside, if I hadn’t seen the injustice of money, maybe I wouldn’t have been on the left,” he said.
After closing the doors of the banking giant, Kasselakis started entrepreneurship and founded a shipping company that Fast massbased in the conditions United. Completely without political experience – if we exclude participation as a volunteer Democratic primaries in 2008 in support of then-Sen Joe Biden – Kasselakis returned to his country of origin just a few months ago. In the national elections last June he ran with Syriza, but he was not elected. Then, on August 28, the surprise announcement of his candidacy for Syriza president upset the cards on the table, just three weeks before the first round of voting. “My name is Stefanos and I have something to tell you,” says the video with which he announced his entry into the race.
Kasselakis, often seen in a white shirt, was able to win the votes of many new members Thanks to an intensive campaign on social media with a colloquial style. Openly gay and married to an American nurse, the new leader represented continuity with Tsipras’ work and promised to give back to citizens your “Greek dream”. His obligations include that of Abolition of compulsory military serviceincrease the public expenditure For Training and reinforce the separation between Condition And Church.
His meteoric rise in the party caused a stir quite a lot of dissatisfaction among the historical representatives of Syriza who accused him of being a foreign body and having put forward a program that was more focused on slogans than on clear proposals. Before the elections, Kasselakis avoided a debate with Achtsioglou, preferring to continue speaking to voters from one party on social media Identity crisis. According to many commentators, whether Kasselakis will move will remain to be seen in the near future more towards the middle Syriza and whether it will succeed in protecting it from possible divisions. Since he is not an MP, he has to lead the largest opposition party out of parliament.