When Mario Draghi recently recently received Alexis Tsipras at the European Central Bank’s HQ in Frankfurt, he quipped that during the crisis, any Greek politician who passed the ECB’s doors became Prime Minister within a year, with Mr. Tsipras responded that we cannot wait that long. The Italian central banker reminded him that there was the case of Mr. Papandreou who visited the ECB in June and became PM in September, with Mr. Tsipras responding that he’ll take a year, having realizing Mr. Draghi’s innuendo.
This playful exchange reveals a good intentions and is indicative of how the powerful financial centers of Europe are starting to treat Mr. Tsipras differently. The SYRIZA president is not treated anymore as a systemic and sworn enemy, but as a radical politician working within a European framework. That is why more symbolic doors are now open for the SYRIZA president and why his contacts with government officials, including Germany, are increasing lately.
Climate change in Brussels
The greatest benefit from winning in the European elections according to Mr. Tsipras was being able to present his party’s positions on a European scale; to meet and talk with central divs of European politics; to present the country’s problems in a systematic and organized way; to prepare and debate possible solutions and prove that he is not insane or like Bepe Grillo, but rather a radical leftist politician who wants to see the Old Continent prosper. He also believes that real life and the European elections gave a final answer to the euro or drachma dilemma, as he states that “there is no such dilemma anymore”.
Mr. Tsipras emphatically notes that we must overcome fear and suspicion and develop relations that will help us negotiate a better deal for our country. His meetings with foreign dignitaries and officials to discuss opinions and solutions regarding the countries debt and growth prospects are becoming more frequent.
He feels more secure and gives great importance to the ongoing negotiations in Europe about those who will assume critical positions in Brussels and the policies they will observe, under pressure from the European election results.
He wholeheartedly believes that the countries in the South now have the ability to influence decisions and policies in Europe. That is why he considers the interventions of Italian Prime Minister Mateo Renzi as positive and openly pursues to meet him.
Mr. Tsipras believes it is time to rid European financial policy of the German deflationary complex, which makes no financial or political sense these days, as it fuels euroscepticism and the far right in Europe. In this respect, Mr. Tsipras believes that new alliances in Europe can be forged, capable of overturning the financial policies and give growth a boost.
Grace period and growth clause
He believes that the Greek problem will not be solved unless there is a fundamental change to structure and nature of financial policy in Europe/ Even if the debt is tackled, the situation in Greece will not improve unless the necessary growth initiatives are taken, by transferring growth resources from the affluence North to the Mediterranean South.
Mr. Tsipras is claiming a generous turn to growth for Europe and Greece, via a new mix of financial policies where growth elements are dominant. Especially for Greece, he believes that the best solution would be a combination of debt relief and growth support.
According to him, the debt will not be reduced unless it settled in the long term, with a long grace period and introducing a growth clause for payments. Additionally, he is in favor of a growth package, a modern European “Marshall plan” that will allow the Greek economy to flourish and create new jobs that will in turn sustain the insurance system and support the reconstruction of the ruined Greek society.
One could say that Mr. Tsipras has found some common ground with the Europeans. After his stance on the Jean-Claude Juncker issue and his discussions with Mario Draghi he is clearly recognized as a peer. His claims do not seems exotic in Brussels and Frankfurt anymore. On the contrary, many might find it rational, especially when framed by the argument that Germany cannot be the only one to benefit from European solidarity in the past sixty years. The former Governor of the Bank of Greece Giorgos Provopoulos regularly argues that the other political forces in Athens underestimate Mr. Tsipras European contacts and have misunderstood the relations he is gradually forging with Brussels and Frankfurt.
Luxemburg and authority
The SYRIZA president however cannot hide his concern over the immediate future. He believes that the autumn will be difficult, that the government will be under such pressure from the troika to impose new measures and its elections priorities that it will be unprepared for the debt relief negotiations.
He estimates that Mr. Samaras is being worn down, that Mr. Venizelos has no more power and that he has the upper hand in the domestic political scene, even though he worries about the allies he will need to support his government.
He openly admits and accepts that his greatest problem stems from his own party. Mr. Tsipras states that most of SYRIZA’s officers have dedicated their life to political demand, that they emerged from marginal groups from the streets and that they are having a hard time understanding the challenges of a left coalition government in an urban setting.
Many, he admits, even reject the idea of management within such a framework and believe Rosa Luxemburg’s belief that the Left can only function as an opposition in such conditions and that it can only build its authority on its ashes.
Mr. Tsipras says that these issues have been resolved historically and that they will not impede SYRIZA’s claim. He also believes that there are the conditions for a left government in Greece and to support them he will attempt to expand his appeal with setting ideological boundaries. Without a doubt, he is under pressure from his internal front and the alliance issue is still open for him.
“With whom will we govern?”
He often poses the following interesting question to himself and his peers: “With whom will we govern?”. There is, however, no safe answer. The truth is he is interested in developing ties with the Center Left; Varoufakis is opening a channel with The River, he himself is talking with the Karamanlis camp, the Papandreou circle is approaching him, DIMAR has withered away, KKE has clammed up and the internal front is demanding transparency and a left one-party government, which is anything but easy.
In other words, Mr. Tsipras claim for a left coalition government, despite being the most powerful, appears to be risky. He is well aware that the risk gives birth to ambition and that there have always been may vying for power in Greece. That is why this year his vacation will be short and intermittent, despite the summer expected to be long and hot.
Antonis Karakousis
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
