As Greece grapples with a persistent cost-of-living crisis and its government appears to waver between Washington and Brussels amid the most serious geopolitical upheaval Europe has faced in a decade, PASOK, the country’s main opposition party, is struggling to convince voters it is ready to rise to the challenge. The historic center-left force that once dominated Greek politics is approaching a party congress billed as the most consequential in years. Yet instead of building momentum, PASOK has spent recent weeks engaged in a very public conversation about itself.
The problem is not a lack of opportunity. Government fatigue, rising prices and a growing sense amongst the public that the country is on the wrong track have created political space for an alternative. But PASOK has repeatedly failed to translate those conditions into sustained traction. Poll numbers remain stubbornly flat, and frustration inside the party is increasingly spilling into public view.
That tension was on full display during a recent four-hour meeting of PASOK’s pre-congress steering committee, held at party headquarters in central Athens. Intended as a test run ahead of the March 27–29 congress, the meeting instead highlighted the party’s core dilemma: an organization caught between strategic uncertainty, centralized decision-making and an endless internal debate over identity and alliances.
A party talking to itself
At the heart of PASOK’s unease is a growing sense that the party has become inward-looking. Senior figures complain that key leadership committees rarely meet and that strategic decisions are concentrated in a small circle. The result, critics say, is a party drifting toward elections without a functioning day-to-day command structure.
That organizational anxiety feeds into a broader political one. Too much of PASOK’s public discussion, several officials argue, revolves around hypothetical post-election scenarios: Will the party rule out a coalition with New Democracy, the ruling center-right party? Would it align with a potential new formation led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras? Or is it retreating into a narrower appeal aimed primarily at ideologically “pure” voters?
For many inside the party, these questions have come to dominate the conversation at the expense of issues that affect everyday life. The longer PASOK appears preoccupied with coalition arithmetic and internal process, the harder it becomes to project itself as a credible governing alternative.
Leadership under pressure
PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis has sought to push back against that perception. Addressing the steering committee, he urged party officials to move away from internal disputes that, in his view, resonate inside PASOK but not with the broader public. Voters, he argued, are concerned with tangible problems, such as energy costs, public services, education and health care. They do not however care much about procedural disagreements or factional maneuvering.
Androulakis framed the upcoming congress as a political reset rather than an internal reckoning. He promised an open and institutional process, including policy roundtables that would invite other center-left parties to contribute views, including on constitutional reform. PASOK’s strategy, he said, would rest on parliamentary work and engagement with society, not on short-term messaging tactics or attracting political celebrities.
He also sought to reassure supporters wary of PASOK losing its identity. The party, Androulakis said, aims to widen its political and social base without being absorbed into broader alliances that blur its distinct profile -an important point for a movement that has already lived through years of decline and reinvention.
Doukas and the call for change
Athens Mayor Haris Doukas offered a different emphasis, one that captured the impatience felt by many inside PASOK. While stressing that he does not challenge Androulakis’ leadership, Doukas described the party’s public message as blurred and its strategy as unsuccessful.
“The goal of finishing first is moving further away,” he warned, arguing that PASOK needs a clear shift in direction if it hopes to regain momentum. He proposed three steps: a binding decision ruling out cooperation with New Democracy; an unambiguous commitment to a progressive governing project; and an open congress that allows members and supporters to shape major changes.
A brief confrontation between Doukas and Anna Diamantopoulou, PASOK’s political planning lead and a former European commissioner, over the publication of his remarks underscored the party’s broader struggle with discipline and message control.
Doukas dismissed the issue as overblown, arguing that pre-congress debate should be transparent. But the episode reinforced a damaging impression: a party whose internal arguments routinely become public spectacles and tend to monopolize the conversation.
A familiar Greek pattern
Other senior figures echoed variations of the same concern. MP and PASOK’s parliamentary spokesperson Pavlos Geroulanos called for faster decision-making, more frequent leadership meetings and more open procedures, warning that the pary risks alienating supporters if it appears closed and slow. MP Michalis Katrinis was more blunt, noting that PASOK has failed to attract protest voters despite government wear and the fragmentation of the broader center-left.
Taken together, the critiques point to a familiar pattern in center-left party politics. PASOK seems trapped between introspection and ambition, debating structure and alliances while voters look elsewhere for clarity, actions and urgency.
The cost of endless hypotheticals
Officially, PASOK leaders insist the coalition debate is not the party’s central problem. In practice, it continues to shape nearly every internal argument. The risk is not simply strategic confusion but public fatigue. When political actors spend more time discussing who they might govern with rather than how they are going to govern, voters tend to tune out.
For a party trying to reestablish itself as a pillar of stability and competence, the optics matter.
The March congress is meant to be PASOK’s turning point. Whether it becomes one is an open question. If the party emerges with clearer priorities, broader participation and a message anchored in everyday concerns, it may yet reclaim relevance. If not, the risk is that the congress simply formalizes what many voters already suspect: that PASOK is still searching for a voice strong enough to cut through its own noise.
