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Anastasia Balezdrova

The Minister of Economy gave his first press conference as almost the official leader of PASOK. The Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos expressed his conviction that Greece’s problems could be solved only through elections and stated that they would be held one to two weeks after Easter.

On a white background broken by a green stripe and the logo with the call "We begin" behind him, he gave his first press conference after being confirmed as the sole candidate for the leadership post in PASOK. However, there will be internal party elections on 18 March and then, he will officially take the helm of the party.

It is already clear that he will leave the Ministry of Finance for this purpose in order to be able to devote himself to the election battle. He explained that he would resign after the internal party elections on Sunday, not specifying who would replace him in the most critical post in the Greek office. "The discussion on this issue is ongoing and will continue. It will happen in the best and usual way, credible also to our partners. But the important procedures have now been completed and I can say that I have finished my mission in the Ministry of Finance. "

Evangelos Venizelos urged the party supporters and "all those who have voted for PASOK at least once in their lives to participate in the elections. Not only to observe the procedure, but because we have to show that PASOK is here and it represents the centre-left political forces in Greece. In addition, we will count our forces on Sunday in view of the upcoming elections." He apologized again to the Greeks for the difficulties that he had caused last Saturday during the meeting of the National Council of the party and said that it was on behalf of the entire political staff of the country.

"Our goal is to win the elections. We want the people to support us to continue our work for the emergence of Greece from the crisis." Asked whether he would accept back in the party disaffiliated members and others who had left it during the leadership of George Papandreou, Evangelos Venizelos said that the party is open to all who consider themselves part of it.

Asked where the sun, which has been the key element in the logo of PASOK since the formation of the party, had disappeared to, he replied, "The sun is the source of life and we do not have to put it over every word."

Regarding the scenarios of cooperation with New Democracy after the elections, he urged the citizens to evaluate the positions and consistency of the parties and to decide whether the country needs "a stable political government, pure political rhetoric and the ability to negotiate in the terms of the complex correlation of forces in Europe and the world.

On the other hand, he firmly rejected the possibility of cooperating with far right or far left forces "that want to benefit from the disappointment and anger of the Greek people and support Greece's exit from the euro area and the European Union and its return to the 1950s and 1960s, hoping that this would help them impose their ideas. They pretend to be good to people but are actually very dangerous." PASOK will not cooperate either with the so-called "amiable" left, which is supposed to support the changes, but wants them to happen without anyone being affected," he added referring to the Democratic Left, which is joined by the majority  of the voters disaffected with PASOK.

Evangelos Venizelos made attacks on the president of New Democracy Antonis Samaras. He reprehended him for not admitting that in practice, both parties are partners in the government, because New Democracy wants to be considered an opposition. "It is illogical for the party responsible for the crisis that began during its ruling in 2008 to behave that way," he said, adding that all governments in the period after the fall of the military dictatorship in 1974 are responsible for the present state of the country.

Evangelos Venizelos said that after signing the contract for the second bailout to Greece and the completion of the PSI procedure, he is much more relaxed on the course of things in the country. "At some point, I will tell you about my experiences during those nine months in my capacity as finance minister," he told journalists, adding with a smile that, one day, he will describe today's dramatic events in his memoirs.