Juncker Says Tsipras Unfit To Lead Greece, EU

Former Eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker, a candidate for European Commission President, said after a debate with rivals for the post that Greece’s major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras wasn’t fit to lead his country and couldn’t work with other European Union leaders.
Juncker, who helped oversee international bailouts that came with harsh austerity measures, saved his best shots for after the televised contest, taking aim at Tsipras, who has fought the terms and said if he came to power in Greece would seek to revise the deals with the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) or default, putting the Eurozone in jeopardy.
Juncker said that stance proved Tsipras wasn’t worthy to lead Greece and proved he couldn’t work with the EU even as the Leftist leader said he wanted its top job.
In an interview with Euro2day.gr published a few hours after the debate, Juncker said he thought the young leftist did not have what it takes to take a leading role in Greece or the EU.
“I would be willing to cooperate with him but I don’t think he would be willing to do so if he became prime minster of Greece,” Juncker said, adding that this would pose “a major risk for the country.”
He added that he believed Tsipras “has not adequately understood what the problems are in Greece and [what the problems] are in Europe relating to Greece.”
Juncker said Greece has made significant progress but that it must stick to the reforms that Tsipras said had devastated the country, for which he blamed the EU largely for the tough measures it insisted upon in return for contributing to 240 billion euros ($330.7 billion) in rescue packages.
Referring to revelations in the Financial Times about behind-the-scenes developments at the crucial G20 summit in Cannes in 2011 where Eurozone finance ministers were asked to work on a euro exit plan for Greece – as PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos admitted had occurred –  Juncker insisted that he had never threatened Greece or the then Greek premier George Papandreou with the prospect of a euro exit.
But he said if Papandreou had gone ahead with a referendum and Greeks had voted “no” to working with the Troika that Greece would have been forced out of the Eurozone even if it jeopardized the rest of the financial bloc.