In a public speech on Saturday at Heraklion, Crete, main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras called Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras a “Premier of chaos,” underlining that “the countdown for the coalition government and the destruction policies has already begun,” in reference to the imminent successive votes in the Greek Parliament for the election of a new President of the Hellenic Republic that could lead to general elections.
For Tsipras, “the time for the great Democratic party of the Left [meaning SYRIZA] has come.” He appeared hopeful that “a new page is turning for the homeland.”
In a more aggressive tone, he noted that “the cores of domestic interlacing interests and international usury [sic.] are terrorizing and barking, but in vain, as their political time is over.” The SYRIZA leader described the hastening of the procedure for the election of a new President as a “convulsion before the end” for the coalition government. Moreover, he talked about “Samaras exit,” in response to being accused of dragging Greece to a potential “Grexit.”
According to Tsipras, SYRIZA’s platform for a way out of the crisis “costs 12 billion euros and we have located its financing sources.” He warned that Greeks are “tough” and that they “cannot be blackmailed or terrorized easily. Instead, they become stubborn.”
Government spokeswoman Sofia Voultepsi was quick to respond to Tsipras on Saturday that “the only architect of chaos in this country is Mr Tsipras and the only convulsion that exists is the one he, himself, promises: The convulsion before the end of ‘European Greece’.”
Voultepsi made a reference to the rise of Greek bond spreads, the tumbling of stock prices in the Athens Exchange and warnings issued by credit rating agencies regarding the political developments in Greece [SYRIZA is leading the polls]. Commenting on the “toughness” Tsipras talked about, she said it was “unbelievable statements” made by him and his party’s “components” that practically provoke the markets to attack Greece. She concluded that “the only pursuit of Mr Tsipras is to lead the country to insolvency.”
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