| Welcome to the weekend issue of Brussels Edition, Bloomberg's daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Join us on Saturdays for deeper dives from our bureaus across Europe. ATHENS — One of Greece's most venerable political parties, Pasok, is trying to foster some 90's nostalgia. Some party supporters are circulating memes featuring its founder, Andreas Papandreou, the popular former prime minister who led Pasok for nearly two decades. Others are sharing photos of The Unacceptables, a show from the early 1990's about four friends who lived in the same Athens building that was the most popular sitcom in the history of Greek TV. As Pasok tries to elect a new leader, one candidate, former EU employment commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, even ran a TV spot featuring three actors from the show acting out what could have been a scene from it.  Andreas Papandreou in the 1970's. Photographer: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Pasok, the historically socialist party, has good reason for harkening back to the pre-bailout days of the 1990s. These days, it's better remembered as a relic of a more careless era of excessive spending and tax evasion — the one that led to the country's 2010 credit crisis. As it makes another effort to return from the political wilderness, Pasok has a long way to go. It's a distant third in Greece's 300-seat chamber and only won 12.8% of the vote in the European elections in June. Even so, the contest for a new party leader is monopolizing news bulletins and is trending on the X platform. Nikos Androulakis, Pasok's current leader, was challenged by five rivals, including former ministers in the government of George Papandreou — the one who applied for aid to the IMF back in 2010. None of the former ministers, including Diamantopoulou, managed to make it to the second round, which takes place tomorrow. After three months of pre-election rallies and a three-hour-long live televised debate, its current leader still holds the lead. Androulakis's main rival is Harris Doukas, the current mayor of Athens, who only came in fourth place among Athenians.  Pasok supporters. Photographer: Aris Messinis/Getty Images At the same time, Greece's former ruling Syriza party, is also in the market for a new leader, as its popularity is declining in polls. Both parties are vying to be the main opposition party against the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who so far doesn't seem to face serious challenge from either. A severe housing crisis and increasing retail prices haven't been enough to convince more people to switch to Pasok or Syriza, the parties most Greeks blame for the dark years of the credit crisis. Syriza's victory in 2013 ended a 40-year era in which Pasok traded power with New Democracy, the current ruling party, after the ouster of a military junta. When Pasok took power in 2009, it revealed a deficit four times what euro rules allowed, which led Greece to receive a total of €240 billion in EU and IMF funds to avoid default, a process that entailed painful spending cuts. Pasok's popularity plunged from a record support of almost 50% of the vote in the 1980's to a little above the 3% threshold to re-enter the parliament in 2015. As Pasok works to escape its legacy of having to impose deeply unpopular austerity measures, it's clear that party leaders still have a long way to go. — Eleni Chrepa, Athens reporter | 
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