The party's priorities were outlined by PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) Nikos Androulakis in an address to friends and party officials in Astoria, New York, on Friday night.

Androulakis, who is on a visit to New York for the Greek Independent Day celebrations and to meet with diaspora Greeks, said that the party placed particular emphasis on a strong public education and health, as well as a comprehensive housing policy.

"The cost of living has skyrocketed," he said. "The ratio of incomes to cost of living is disproportionate, not just due to inflation in products but also to the rise of inflexible expenditures for health, education, and housing. In Greece we had a very strong National Health System, but today citizens are paying the second highest private expenditures for health throughout Europe, particularly now when the purchasing power of Greeks is next to the last in Europe. Many turn to private education because the public one has become devalued. In terms of rents, the numbers are revealing: in 4 years, rents rose by 52%."

Besides mentioning the aging of the Greek population, he also mentioned the so-called brain drain. "Many young people do not leave Greece just for financial reasons. They also leave because of mediocrity and a lack of respect by the state to its citizens. That is why I often say that our country should become a normal European state, so that young people remain in thir homeland.

He also criticized the government for saying trains are safe when 57 died a week later in a train collision, and for its treatment of the then minister (Kostas Karamanlis), "protecting him."

In terms of national and geopolitical issues, he said, "We want cooperation with the United States, a strong Europe, a Europe of the peoples, as the great socialdemocratic leaders envisioned it."