Tsipras: Mitsotakis is running alone and is in danger of coming second

Former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke at the Delphi Economic Forum, making reference to the most important developments on a political, social and economic level.

“Mr. Mitsotakis is not easy to run against Nobody”

“We have throughout Europe a noticeable and dangerous rise of far-right populism and battles not between the left and the right, but the stake is the percentage of far-right parties with some of them coming out first” he noted about the situation in the European Union.

Alexis Tsipras underlined that the stake of the elections for the European Parliament is to rebalance the political system, i.e. for the Left to be able to keep its percentages in order to be able to claim the government of the country in the next parliamentary elections.

“The picture at the moment is that Mr. Mitsotakis is running in a track race alone and is in danger of coming second”, he said characteristically and emphasized that if Kyriakos Mitsotakis registers a very low percentage compared to that of the national elections, he will have a problem.

“The Mitsotakis government has fallen for issues that happened a year ago” added Alexis Tsipras, underlining that “considering that you are alone is the greatest arrogance”.

Suffocating conditions due to accuracy

Commenting on the state of the Greek economy, the former prime minister said that at a macro-economic level the figures are positive, noting that the foundations for this to happen were laid in the four-year period 2015-2019 when the country returned to the markets and the SYRIZA government made the cushion of 47 billion . euro.

However, Alexis Tsipras expressed their concern about the medium-term prospects of the Greek economy.

“Growth rates do not spread to society” the former prime minister argued, adding that “it seems that precision – which is no longer imported – creates suffocating conditions for small and medium incomes”.

Watch the video:

“Strengthening Europe’s strategic autonomy is critical”

“The concept of geopolitical security obviously also depends on deterrence capabilities, but mainly on diplomacy and foreign policy,” noted Alexis Tsipras on European politics and diplomacy.

“The crucial issue is the strengthening of Europe’s strategic autonomy. This is how I would see the strengthening of the Defense. But Europe is not moving in this direction: We have two wars in Ukraine and Palestine. Europe must be with the rule of law and peace” added the former prime minister, stressing that everyone would expect diplomacy to be more active to stop the war in Ukraine and Palestine.

“I’m not saying that we shouldn’t care about defense, but that it should be intertwined with a foreign policy strategy,” added Alexis Tsipras.

“Erdogan has a clear strategy”

“What I understand is that Turkey has a clear strategy. I am looking to find ours” Alexis Tsipras noted when asked about bilateral relations with the neighboring country and added: “Its positions are clear, it does not back down.”

“We are going through a period of de-escalation because it wants to redefine its relations with Europe and the USA” added the former prime minister.

At the same time, Alexis Tsipras emphasized that it is acceptable for Turkey to be in NATO, but also to talk with Putin. “It takes the F-16s normally without conditions, so the de-escalation of the tension with Greece helps it,” he added.

“How do we imagine the country coexisting with a neighbor that is becoming more and more powerful. Do we want to hurry? Are we claiming a solution under International Law? Now it is not clear” said the former prime minister, emphasizing that “we see Mr. Mitsotakis being tense and then when Turkey calms down he says let’s make concessions”.

“The policy of procrastination leads nowhere. We are losing critical time and from 2021 I say we should take advantage of our position in NATO and the EU,” added Alexis Tsipras.

Schäuble’s obsession

Commenting on the revelations about former German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble’s memoirs, Alexis Tsipras said that Schäuble “had an obsession with Greece leaving the euro to hide his own mistakes and weaknesses and Germany’s responsibilities for the mistakes which he had done in the debt crisis”.

At the same time, he noted that Schäuble “put so much weight on the Greek crisis that he could not move after it”, however he underlined that “he had the courage to say certain things by their name”.

“What his domestic supporters called a rump in the referendum, Schäuble called a maneuver. What is worth seeing is how Greece managed to stay in the Eurozone and complete the difficult reform programs and enter the markets. This was not a given at all,” added Mr. Tsipras.

“I am politically active”

Finally, Alexis Tsipras spoke about his personal plans for the future and the revelation of his personal “rebranding”.

“I have resigned from the presidency of SYRIZA. I have not resigned from politics, I am politically active, I am a SYRIZA member of parliament. With the mistakes and the right we have a legacy and I want to soberly explain some moments that were not explained or misinterpreted”, he noted, stressing that his goal is “the production of policy and the attempt to re-approach the importance of politics”.

“I want to claim the role of policy production both in Greece and at the international level with the Institute” underlined the former prime minister.

As for the document entitled “Rebranding Alexis Tsipras” he noted that “rebranding was one of the many proposals I read. It doesn’t suit politicians so much, we are not products.”

“I want to assure you that I will not rebrand the values that I represent and serve. I will fight for more justice, for peace for a fairer common future, I will do this from other roles not from the front line” concluded Alexis Tsipras.