Mr. Lapavitsas was a member of the parliament during the previous Syriza government and he was among those Syriza MP's who left the party in order to form their own anti-bailout party, LAE. They decided to do so once the government agreed with its Eurozone creditors to yet another bailout and the subsequent austerity program that came with it. The result of their disagreement and exit form the government majority was the elections of September 2015. Syriza regained power while the newly formed LAE failed to gather more than 3% and was left out of the parliament.
A month before the elections a national referendum had gathered a 62% of “no” when the people were asked about the bailout deal offered by the Troika. The referendum did not ask if the people were willing to insist on their 'no' even that were to lead to a Grexit from the Eurozone but it certainly gathered an impressive number of voters who were against the austerity measures that a new memorandum between Greece and its creditors would bring.
After its defeat, many criticized LAE that it failed to present a coherent program for a possible Grexit and only concentrated in reassuring its possible voters that a Grexit was not the prime target.
“Programme of Social and National Rescue for Greece” by K.Lapavitsas and H.Flassbeck had already been completed since May, long before the capital controls were imposed in Greece. The two writers had already published their book “Against the Troika”-a preform of the Plan- by January 2015.
In TPP, we believe that, besides the election result, the Greek citizens have no clear knowledge of all the aspects concerning the return to our national currency. Additionally, since major European officials keep reminding that a Grexit is not yet out of the question, we believe that it is our duty and we are proud to help our readers revisit the discussion if only to gain a better understanding.