Alexis Tsipras has always being prone to fighting imaginary wars. In the long year of his rule he has declared war on corruption, oligarchy, clientelism, “the old,” neoliberalism, capitalism, conservatism, racism, fascism, opposition parties, tax evasion, the European Union, the euro zone, Angela Merkel, Wolfgang Schaeuble, the International Monetary Fund, the list is endless.
This month’s enemy of choice is the International Monetary Fund. The Wikileaks of the alleged conversation between IMF’s Poul Thomsen and Delia Velculescu have caused a storm within government circles. “The IMF wants to delay the bailout program evaluation,” “the IMF wants to push Greece to default” are only two of his claims.
It is very convenient for the prime minister to turn people’s attention to an imaginary enemy. The government has proved that it cannot handle the refugee crisis. The harsh measures and reforms are unlikely to pass in Greek parliament. The impending heavy taxes and pension cuts have turned Greek people against the government. Tsipras’ popularity is waning as scandals from SYRIZA top members are exposed every day. On Tuesday a newspaper report shows that he allegedly failed to declare income from the shares of a company he co-owned until 2010 to the parliamentary ethics committee.
So, what does he do? He calls the SYRIZA parliamentary group and rails against the IMF. As if it is the “deplorable” organization the one responsible for stalling the negotiations and dragging the implementation of the reforms he himself signed last July. Incidentally, he also signed for the IMF to participate in Greece’s third bailout, but that’s insignificant for a man who is a consistent liar.
The he and his cabinet members make public statements against the IMF. Even President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos states that the Fund must leave and be replaced by the European Stability Mechanism in the monitoring of the program.
One of the basic principles of propaganda is the creation of imaginary enemies. Tsipras’ strategy has managed to turn some of his voters against the IMF. Government friendly media demonize the Washington-based organization. The hard leftists of SYRIZA hate the IMF on principle because it is based in the U.S. Some protestors went with placards against the IMF outside the hotel the creditors representatives are staying.
But they were very few. The prime minister’s communication tricks don’t seem to work any more. Only two months ago Tsipras was trying to demonize (again) Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. But now that Germany is essentially Greece’s only true ally in the refugee crisis, the Germans cannot be the enemy of choice for the government at the moment. The prime minister’s tactics have become obvious.
Unfortunately for Tsipras, his actual enemy is reality. And reality says that the IMF is participating in the negotiations and Greece has not repaid the Fund’s loan for the second bailout yet. On top of that, European creditors want the IMF to continue in the program because it possesses the knowledge for such cases.
In addition, analysts say that all evidence as to who bugged the Thomsen-Velculescu conversation and then leaked the content lead to Athens.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
