With the review process of the new bailout program under way and Greece’s creditors pushing for more austerity and a deeper adjustment into the nation’s pension system than the one proposed by the Tsipras government, the Greek Prime Minister seems to be doing whatever is politically expedient to share responsibility for his policies among the nation’s different political forces, even though not long ago he had rejected out of hand the idea of the formation of a national government for dealing with the ongoing crisis.
This is why he has opted to hold meetings at the present moment with the leader of the Pasok party Fofi Gennimata and the former leader of the Democratic Left party Fotis Kouvelis.
Greece’s creditors have put on the negotiation table a number of hot issues, which include further pension cuts and raising additional tax revenues.
In addition, Tsipras’ government is under increasing pressure to do more on the migration front, although it is uncertain at this point what else Greece can do other than have the Greek navy patrol the Aegean Sea and force back into Turkey any boat carrying migrants and refugees.
This is one additional reason as to why the Greek PM is seeking to build, however temporary they may be, new political alliances.
Simply put, he wants to share responsibility for his government’s actions with other political forces inside the country.
This is also why his Immigration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas met with the new leader of the New Democracy party Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Behind Tsipras’ meetings with Fofi Gennimata and Fotis Kouvelis is also the prospect of new legislative elections, especially since the Syriza-led government is rapidly losing political legitimacy. Recent comments made by the new Pasok leader that the gap between her party and that of New Democracy is huge was music to the ears of Alexis Tsipras, who may even be envisioning a future political collaboration between Pasok and Syriza.
And why not? Tsipras’ Syriza party has already become a new Pasok, so a political marriage between the current Pasok party and that of Syriza would fit like a glove.
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