Where is the Opposition?

Angeliki Trikoili
Coordinator, SYRIZA-PS Kalymnos Local Organization
Press Office Representative, SYRIZA-PS Dodecanese Prefectural Committee

SYRIZA–PS: The Strategy of “Returning” to Parliamentary Substance

Following its recent internal party processes, SYRIZA–PS is making a determined effort to strengthen its political weight in Parliament, investing in an agenda that combines social protection with institutional oversight.

Since the issue of the existence, fragmentation and overall capacity of the progressive opposition to articulate a substantive and credible response to the critical problems of Greek society frequently resurfaces in public debate, it is useful to take a closer, more systematic look at where the opposition actually stands today.

The parliamentary interventions of December 2025 focused on four main pillars:

1. Front Against the 2026 State Budget
The debate on the State Budget became the arena of the sharpest criticism. SYRIZA–PS President Socratis Famellos described the budget as “memorandum-style without a memorandum,” denouncing income stagnation, the accumulation of excessive surpluses through indirect taxation such as VAT, and a lack of transparency in direct awards and in the management of Recovery Fund resources.

2. Energy and the Cost of Living
Nikos Pappas and other MPs submitted a series of parliamentary questions on energy costs, focusing on excess profits in the energy sector, energy poverty and the mismatch between wholesale prices and final consumer prices.

3. Agriculture and Primary Production
In light of farmers’ mobilizations, SYRIZA–PS brought to Parliament the issue of managing EU agricultural funds, highlighting the OPEKEPE scandal, delays in subsidy payments and proposals to reduce production costs, including abolishing the special consumption tax on agricultural fuel and imposing price caps on inputs.

4. Institutional Safeguards and the Rule of Law
Continuing its long-standing focus on transparency, SYRIZA–PS raised issues related to migration policy, conditions in reception centers, the management of funds, and concerns over press freedom and the functioning of independent authorities.

Demonstrating that it has a governing program in practice, SYRIZA–PS recently submitted a package of legislative initiatives and carried out targeted interventions focused on wealth redistribution and social justice.

Key legislative proposals of the last 30 days include:

• Combating High Prices and Protecting Consumers: zero VAT on basic goods, caps on profit margins in the food supply chain and fuel sector, and strengthening the Competition Commission.
   
• Addressing the Housing Crisis: limits on short-term rentals, the creation of a public “Housing Bank” using vacant public properties, and protection of primary residences from auctions up to a defined debt threshold.
   

Socratis Famellos outlined a comprehensive alternative based on a “Just Transition,” emphasizing that growth in numbers alone is meaningless if citizens cannot make ends meet.
Nikos Pappas focused on private debt and housing protection, criticizing policies that favor investment funds.
Katerina Notopoulou highlighted the degradation of the tourism product due to lack of infrastructure and labor shortages, stressing that rising prices are even driving away Greek tourists.

SYRIZA–PS continues to press on issues such as the Tempi railway tragedy and accountability, as well as severe staff shortages in regional hospitals and what it describes as backdoor privatization in healthcare.

The opposition strategy of SYRIZA–PS today is characterized by dynamism and documentation. Instead of vague slogans, the party relies on concrete data to expose and denounce the government’s neoliberal policies that deepen social inequalities.

This intensity is reflected in numbers: hundreds of parliamentary questions, dozens of document requests, and multiple legislative proposals on prices, housing and institutional transparency.

The recent parliamentary presence of SYRIZA–PS signals a consistent, responsible and programmatic opposition. The strategic choice to invest in substantiated legislative proposals and targeted parliamentary oversight on issues that directly affect citizens’ daily lives is a bet on reconnecting with middle- and lower-income groups.

At a time when social pressure from rising prices is intensifying, SYRIZA–PS demonstrates in practice that it is not merely an opposition party, but a force of alternative governance.

Therefore, the argument of a “non-existent, fragmented opposition” should not be repeated lightly. The opposition of SYRIZA–PS is present—here, alongside society.