ATHENS (Bloomberg) - Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras said that Greece's era of bowing to international creditors is over, as he celebrated his party's victory in Greek elections dominated by a public backlash against years of budget cuts.
Tsipras, addressing supporters in central Athens on Sunday night after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras conceded defeat, said that Greece is turning a page and putting austerity behind it. The Syriza government's priority "will be for Greece and its people to regain their lost dignity," he said.
"There will neither be a catastrophic collapse nor will continued kowtowing be accepted," said Tsipras, 40. "We are fully aware that the Greek people hasn't given us carte blanche but a mandate for national revival."
While Syriza's victory was more decisive than polls had predicted, it remains unclear whether the party will be able to govern alone. Even with a razor-thin majority or in a fragile coalition, the result hands Tsipras a clear mandate to confront Greece's programme of austerity imposed in return for pledges of 240 billion euros in aid since May 2010. The challenge for him now is to strike a balance between keeping his election pledges including a writedown of Greek debt and avoiding what Samaras repeatedly warned was the risk of an accidental exit from the euro.
No comments:
Post a Comment