Mark Linnhoefer – Alexis Tsirpas officially resigned his post as prime minister last Thursday because he feels a “deep moral” obligation to “put everything [he has] done to the judgement” of the Greek people, and has so called for new elections to be held within a month.
Let’s look back on what’s happened so far:
Tsirpas was elected on an anti-bailout and anti-austerity platform. He and his government then quickly realized that their creditors wouldn’t back down so easily and so they decided to put it to a vote using a referendum to see whether or not Greece would stay in the EU and conform to austerity measures. The result of this referendum was a clear “No”. But that did not change anything, and austerity measures in exchange for a bail-out were re-implemented when former minister of finance Yanis Varoufakis was out on trial for High Treason.
At this point, 34 party deputies split from Syriza to form a new anti-EU party that is much more radical.
And now, Tsirpas has resigned his position as Prime Minister and calls for a re-election in September. This move has been widely applauded by creditors and lifted Greece’s credit rating up again, but not because the creditors are happy to get rid of Tsirpas. No, they’ve grown fond of him once he crumbled under their extortion and agreed to new bailout packages.
The reason behind their approval and his resignation is actually a huge gamble – the former Prime Minister plans to be re-elected and so be able to put a more cohesive government around him – as he will be able to choose the deputies that can be elected – so that there is virtually no opposition anymore. Once this has been achieved, the way for more austerity measures implemented at the whims of creditors will have been paved, and the Greek economy will go down the toilet even further.
Now I don’t know whether the guy is just saying that he feels a moral obligation to the Greek people or not, but I do know that once that spineless would-be revolutionary gets re-elected with a party that does not oppose him, he will surely act at the bidding of the creditors he once vowed to get rid of.
Right now a temporary government is in place whose only authority is to make sure that the next elections will be held according to the Greek constitution.
Tsipras has made a smart move here, no doubt. It is a gamble, but as an estimated 29-30% of the population still support him, the chances of his plan actually working out are pretty high. This is not a smart move for the Greek economy and the Greek people as it will lead to a prolonged stay in the EU and further austerity measures.
How the Greek economy will ever recover and how the debts will ever be repaid remains an unsolvable mystery – with very little output and production and immense taxes, the future does not look all too bright.
And adding austerity measures to that desolation will definitely not speed things up.
It is sad to see, really, how such a charismatic and dedicated man as Tsirpas has completely lost his backbone and is now making sure that the will of the creditors can be enforced through him. I had really thought that something might change, but alas, things have only gotten worse so far.
Selah.
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