The leader of the opposition Alexis Tsipras told Bloomberg in a recent interview that his party is pro European and wants “to change Europe, not destroy it”.
Mr. Tsipras revealed that his party will cooperate with the Podemos movement, which secured 5 seats in the new European parliament, and that he is considering working with the Socialists, the second largest group, if they are prepared to challenge Angela Merkel’s austerity policies.
Regarding domestic political developments, the SYRIZA leader stressed that his not bound by any deal that Antonis Samaras makes with Greece’s creditors in 2014, unless it includes his demand for erasing part of the country’s 240-billion-euro debt.
The opposition leader claimed that the current government has no mandate to make deals that will bind the country for decades “without taking into consideration the results of last Sunday’s elections and without consulting the biggest party in Greece” and added that political stability will only be achieved with general elections.
Mr. Tsipras also stated that his party must be consulted in the appointment of the next Governor of the Bank of Greece, otherwise the coalition government’s refusal “may set a precedent against the public interest, in which case I would like to remind what happened in Cyprus”.
As for the public debt, Mr. Tsipras told Bloomberg that “we want a final solution that will give the economy room to grow, so that it is in the position to pay off part of the debt”.
