DIKO and EDEK officially set their sights on a common course at the Presidential Palace yesterday. The important thing of yesterday's meeting of delegations under Nikolas Papadopoulos and Marinos Sizopoulos, is the agreement to complete the intermediary contacts and reach an agreement as soon as possible. Chronologically this is determined shortly after Easter.
Yesterday's meeting sent clear messages that DIKO and EDEK are the two historical parties of the Center and that they are united by many. At the same time, DIKO underlined through its president that it will have the first say in the selection of a candidate, and everything now shows the qualification of Nikolas Papadopoulos. The president of DIKO after the meeting, stressed that his party, because it is the largest party in the intermediate space, has the right to have an opinion on who will be a candidate at least in the first stage and what will be the criteria that will help in his choice.
The leaders of the two parties agreed that there should be an agreement and a common candidate in order to achieve a change in the governance of the place. In this context, as both mentioned, the signing of a joint political decision for cooperation in the presidential elections and the definition of the criteria to be met by the joint presidential candidate in the interim space should be sought.
"We agree with EDEK on a common goal that is none other than the change and exemption from the current government and the drawing up of a new strategy regarding the Cyprus issue, the economy and the internal government", said the president of DIKO Nikolas Papadopoulos adding that they have a lot in common with EDEK and that the two parties should cooperate.
The president of EDEK said that the two parties will take an initiative in the next short period of time to explore the possibilities of the five parties in the middle space to proceed to the signing of a joint political decision for cooperation in the presidential elections.
Both Nikolas Papadopoulos and Marinos Sizopoulos diligently avoided referring to the nomenclature, insisting that a political decision should be made first, that the criteria should be determined and then a candidate should be nominated.
They also avoided open conflict with the Citizens' Alliance and George Lillikas, both stating that the goal is the cooperation of all political forces in the middle. "We do not exclude anyone," said Marinos Sizopoulos, while Nikolas Papadopoulos reiterated DIKO's position for contacts with all parties, including the Citizens' Alliance. "We hope to reach an agreement as soon as possible on the common candidate and on a joint political decision to target this cooperation. We do not seek to impose our views on anyone. We seek cooperation ", said N. Papadopoulos.
Answering a question regarding whether there is a problem of cooperation due to the fact that EDEK has shaken off the ICC, while DIKO has not, Nikolas Papadopoulos noted that the content of the solution is more important than the signs and referred to the support of EUROCO to N. Anastasiadis although he disagreed with the federation.
The president of EDEK, noted that there may be differences but this can not prevent the investigation of the possibility of cooperation. "What unites us is much more than what divides us," said Mr. Sizopoulos.
WITH EXPANDED REPRESENTATIVES
The DIKO-EDEK meeting, the first to implement the decision of the Executive Office of the Democratic Party, to start contacts with the parties in the middle, with the aim of finding a common candidate for the 2018 presidential elections, took place at the level of enlarged delegations and this has its significance. Nikolas Papadopoulos was accompanied by if. President Markos Kyprianou, Secretary General Marinos Mousioutas, Organizer Fytos Konstantinou, Parliamentary Representative Christiana Erotokritou, Director of the Office of the President George Solomou and Spokesperson Athos Antoniadis. Maria Vassiliadou, the secretary of the Central Committee of EDEK Chrysos Touloupis and the spokesperson Maria Panagiotou.
Following is an appointment with Eleni Theocharous
The next meeting of DIKO will be with the Solidarity Movement. This is expected to happen next week after the end of the Movement's electoral conference. A meeting with the Ecologists' Movement will then be arranged. It has not yet been clarified when and if a new meeting with the Citizens' Alliance will take place, after the meeting they had last week, despite the fact that the desire for a meeting has been publicly stated.
The Alliance is in a state of uneasy calm after the decision of the Supreme Senate to nominate Lillikas. So far no new meeting has been scheduled. The program is likely to be determined a week after the Secretariat meeting.
Source: philenews