Brussels, 08/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - According to Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the Greek opposition party Syriza, the real question which will arise if his party comes out as the victor in the elections of 25 January is whether Greece “is going to religiously stick to the rules, even if these are wrong and damage us” or look for another option, he said on Thursday 8 January in an interview with the UK's Channel 4, adding that discussions on Grexit “died in 2012”.
An opinion poll published by the press agency ANA-MPA reveals that although Syriza is ahead in the voting intentions, albeit with a reduced lead on Antonis Samaras' New Democracy party, Samaras is felt to be more suitable to negotiate with the 'troika'. Furthermore, 53% of Greeks do not feel that Syriza's economic programme is realistic. Amongst other things, Tspiras wants part of the nominal value of the debt to be written off. This point has been rejected by the eurozone as a whole several times. Tspiras points out that a similar debt write-off was carried out in 1953 for Germany and therefore sees no ethical reason why that country could object.
Pasok, New Democracy's current coalition partner, seems to be moving away from it and towards Tsipras' party. Eva Kaili, the party's spokesperson, did not rule out working with Syriza when interviewed by VIMA. Earlier this week, a Syriza spokesperson told ANA-MPA that there were no grounds for the party's collaboration with Pasok, To Potami (3rd in the voting intentions) or George Papandreou's new party.
On Thursday, the ECB announced that the Greek banks' access to its funding after February would depend on the outcome of the final mission of the 'troika' to Athens. (EL)