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A month after George Papandreou’s withdrawal as prime minister, which lasted for at least a week, and his efforts to keep the power in his hands, the future of PASOK is still unclear. The former prime minister continues not to show his intentions despite his meetings with leading persons in the party. His closest associates are even thinking of making an offer for double leadership, i.e. for George Papandreou to remain the head of PASOK and another person to be the candidate for prime minister, but the supporters of this idea are not many. At the same time, the possible candidates for the leadership position are more than a few. Among them are Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Evangelos Venizelos, Minister of Health Andreas Loverdos, Minister of Education Anna Diamantopoulou, Minister of Citizen Protection Christos Papoutsis and Minister of Regional Development Michalis Chrysochoidis. In practice, many of them are not placing openly the issue for the change of the leader, but all are exploring the ground and counting the number of internal party allies.

The only one, who insists on an immediate report on the governance over the last two years and on organizing internal party elections to elect a new leader, is Michalis Chrysochoidis. Two days ago, his statements on television caused a nervous breakdown among his colleagues in PASOK. The Minister of Regional Development said that the recent prime minister could not continue to be the leader of PASOK, nor a candidate for the party leadership. "George Papandreou may be a candidate for only one colony, having in mind the problems in the country," he said.
 
Michalis Chrysochoidis publishes today an article in the large daily newspaper Ta Nea. In it, he emphasizes the presence of a wide split between PASOK and society. "There is no doubt that the PASOK party has ended up naked in ideological terms and unprepared in political terms to deal with the crisis of this scale. We must not repeat the same mistake. Reporting processes for government work during the last two years should begin without delay. I suggest they start immediately after the holidays, even if party bureaucracy is against it. We must act quickly for the report, the election of a new leader by the party's supporters and the party reorganization following the statutes of PASOK," stresses Michalis Chrysochoidis. He made the same demands during the debate on the state budget for 2012 late last night.

In anticipation of the announcement for the position of George Papandreou and the main candidate for his deputy Evangelos Venizelos, which is not expected to happen within this week, the reactions of others are directed only against Michalis Chrysochoidis in one way or another.

In his speech in Parliament, Andreas Loverdos criticized the Minister of Regional Development. "Over the past two years, we were fighting for fiscal discipline and we succeeded in many major structural reforms, but they were held horizontally in the field of development and the country has sunk into recession," he said.

In an interview with radio Real FM, Minister of Culture Pavlos Geroulanos defined Michalis Chrysochoidis’ statements as "sharp political manoeuvring that has its price in politics" and added, "who feeds the man-eating dragon should be ready to face it."

Very clear allusions to the Minister of Regional Development were made by the former Minister Harris Kastanidis. In a text entitled "Present and future of centre-left forces" he states, "Let us all be careful not to turn PASOK into a landscape devastated by the clearing of personal ambitions. Power, leadership and responsible positions very easily collapse when empty of concern and ideas for the future of people and societies."

Minister of Environment George Papakonstantinou said from the parliamentary tribune, "the obligation of all who have participated or continue to participate in the governance of a country to take part of the respective responsibilities of today's situation is more than clear."

The Minister of Rural Development Kostas Skandalidis commented on Michalis Chrysochoidis’ statements too. "I'm not a fan of beauty contests and political strategies. I am for the party and the joint efforts. Politics will not be born in the bright minds of some people; it will be revived with joint efforts. "

The independent deputy and former Deputy Minister from PASOK Milena Apostolaki has also opposed the Minister of Rural Development. She noted the "complete lack of a comprehensive development plan" and determined the appointment of a German deputy minister, who will monitor the flow of EU funds to Greece, as a "failure of the team responsible for the development."