ATHENS – SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance is the only party that has a decade-long tradition of overturning poll forecasts at the ballot boxes, party leader Alexis Tsipras said in an interview for “Ta Nea” newspaper’s weekend edition published Saturday. The party’s strategy “is clear: if we come in first at next Sunday’s elections, Greece will acquire a strong progressive government,” he asserted. “We will do everything, as top party, to form a progressive coalition government.”
Tsipras also said his government would pursue the truth about the phonetapping issue, and “follow the exact opposite path” of that followed so far, “by having faith in the institutions and the constitution, and following the path they propose.”
The main opposition leader asserted that a strong progressive coalition government will avert instability in Greece. Its central focus will be social justice and development prospects, necessary prerequisites for the country’s fiscal security. Conversely, another four-year term by the “powerful single-party right-wing government of Mr. Mitsotakis has exacerbated inequalities and raised private and public debt, by vastly reducing every citizen’s available income,” Tsipras said, referring to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. During the latter’s term, he said tax revenues rose by 2.8 billion euros, squeezing families’ incomes until they could only live with coupons.
Referring to claims the Prespes Agreement will become a model to compromise with Türkiye over its claims in the Aegean, he said there is no comparison there and called it a ruse to cover up the government’s unwillingness to resolve issues with the neighboring country. The Prespes Agreement “defended Greek interests and brought the European Union back to our borders, instead of allowing Türkiye to move freely and the region to collapse,” Tsipras said, accusing the government of passing the ball to the neighboring court and acting in a dilatory manner on the issue.
