The Corona-virus has hit the EU unprepared, but in different ways and with different effects depending on the countries. Most tragic were the effects on those countries whose healthcare and social systems have been emaciated by decades of austerity policies. Thus, the pandemic has increased inequalities not only inside the states but also among the Member States of the EU. This presents the parties of the radical left with a challenge and calls for a re-examination of their strategies.
Transform! europe hosts a series of web interviews with leading personalities of parties of the European Left. The second season of our interviews continues with Dimitris Tzanakopoulos – Δημήτρης Τζανακόπουλος, Secretary of the Central Committee of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance and MP of the Hellenic Parliament on 24 November at 18.00 CET (or 19.00 Greek time).
The event will be interactive – after the scheduled interview the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions to our guest. You can also watch the livestream here on facebook.
The main focus of all discussions will be the impact of the pandemic on the economic, social, political, and cultural life of particular countries. We have seen that the EU’s failure to address the health crisis and provide support to the most affected states has changed the way the Union is perceived in parts of Europe. To what extent and with what consequences does this apply to the countries whose parties our interviewees represent? How can the left cope with the economic and social crisis and the recession that is very likely to come in its wake? How do the left parties connect their national strategies to global problems, in particular the influx of refugees and the answers urgently required by the global environmental crisis.
Join our web interview with Dimitris Tzanakopoulos – Δημήτρης Τζανακόπουλος, Secretary of the Central Committee of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance and MP of the Hellenic Parliament.
The language of the event will be Greek and English with simultaneous interpretation.
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Dimitris Tzanakopoulos was born in 1982 in Athens. He’s a lawyer, graduate of the Athens Law School. He holds a master’s degree in Law Philosophy from the same school. He served as Secretary of the Youth of Synaspismos from 2005 to 2010. In 2010-2012 he began his doctoral studies at Birkbeck Law, University of London and in the academic year 2011-2012 he worked as a seasonal lecturer at the same University. In 2012 he interrupted his doctoral studies and returned to Greece to take up the post of legal adviser to the leader of the Opposition, Alexis Tsipras. From January 2015 until November 2016 he served as Secretary General of the Prime Minister. In November 2016, he was sworn in as Minister of State and appointed Government Spokesperson and in 2019 he took up the position of parliamentary representative of SYRIZA. On the 6th of September 2020 he was elected Secretary of the Central Committee of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance.
interviewed by:
Walter Baier, economist in Vienna, was National Chairman of the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) from 1994 to 2006. He was an editor of the Austrian weekly Volksstimme and from 2007 until 2020 he has been the coordinator of the network transform! europe.
and
Danai Koltsida, Greek lawyer and political scientist and currently the director of Nicos Poulantzas Institute and Vice President of Transform! europe. Her scientific interests include electoral behaviour, political representation and political personnel, electoral systems, local and regional government and constitutional and political history. She is member of SYRIZA.
