Former Socialist prime minister George Papandreou and Fofi Gennimata, the leader of Democratic Alignment (the new name for PASOK), on Thursday announced that they were joining forces.

The Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO), launched by Papandreou two years ago, will essentially merge with PASOK, according to the announcement, which noted that the only way for Greece to emerge from a continuing crisis is for all the forces of “democratic socialism” to work together.

Previous overtures by Papandreou to PASOK, the party founded by his father, had been unsuccessful.