“At the end of the day, we should only be proud,” said the prime minister about the six-month negotiations, noting that “we tried to highlight the rights of a people, and the possibility of an alternative road”
He went on to explain that on one hand there was a government who wanted another path, another perspective and on the other, there was the institutions that were militantly committed to a very different, and very specific path. These were hard negotiations which took place under conditions of financial asphyxiation.
He noted that SYRIZA had not promised the Greek people “a walk in the park” and stressed that what has become clear is the absolute confirmation at an international level of the dead end of austerity and that the Greek people are fighting for their rights. “Europe is not the same after July 12,” he continued.
Our mandate was to shape the conditions to stop the suffering of our people.
“We didn’t say that we would tear up the memoranda with one piece of legislation, we said that we will fight to leave the stranglehold of the framework that was created by a series of political decisions both before 2008 and after,” he noted, and went on to say that the government was working collectively, “the government is one thing and the party another,” he said.
I had no choice but to call a referendum
The Prime Minister described the referendum as “an extremely high risk choice”, but added that it was the only option, given that lenders had offered a deal with extremely harsh measures. It was a risky choice, he said, but added that the referendum had succeeded in internationalizing the problem, and also in exposing the hard faces of the partners and lenders.
According to the prime minister the country gained from the referendum, “From 13 billion over five months, we went to 83 billion over three years, as well as the reference to debt relief,” while he estimated that the course of the Eurozone will be different in future. “I told the people that I was calling a referendum to get more bargaining power, not to take them out of the euro.”
Our partners decided to close our banks
The deal I had in my hands on June 25, he noted, was one containing difficult measures, a little worse than what we have today, but they didn’t leave any outlets for survival. About the agreement of July 12, Mr. Tsipras said that it was a Pyrrhic victory for the partners, and a great moral victory for Greece and the Left. Disorderly bankruptcy or a difficult compromise were our two options.
If I had done what my heart was telling me during the 17 hour negotiations, to get up and leave, there would have been chaos in the Greek banks, and savings would have been lost. The issue was not a haircut on deposits, but complete collapse, that there would be no deposits at all, he said.
The problems in the economy provoked by the capital controls are reversible, said Tsipras, noting that it was worth it for Greece to make headlines, with people protesting in our favour.
On party matters
Tsipras accepted that SYRIZA had not become a unified party. He noted that when a party is exercising governmental power, the versatile model that worked inside the party previously can’t function in the same way when transferred to government.
“We need collective decisions to be respected by all Members of Parliament, otherwise the Members who disagree should surrender their seats, as required by the statutes,”
The prime minister described it as surreal “to say that you agree with the government and then not support its decisions.”
Mr. Tsipras has called for a party conference in early September noting that there is no guarantee that he will have a parliamentary majority for the next four years. “If I do not have a parliamentary majority I will be forced to go to elections,” he said.