“No” supporters celebrate in Athens.
Syriza’s leader can celebrate career-defining win
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras quickly took to Twitter after the results of yesterday’s “Greferendum,” as he called it, became clearer.
“Today’s referendum doesn’t have winners or losers. It is a great victory, in and of itself. Even in the most difficult circumstances, democracy can’t be blackmailed — it is a dominant value and the way forward,” he posted.
The rhetoric was more inclusive, but in truth Tsipras probably knows he is perhaps the biggest “winner” of all, considering the results of yesterday’s vote.
As much as the country, the Syriza leader’s future had been on the line. In recent days, lawmakers from his coalition partners, The Independent Greeks, had hinted at a break in their alliance and repeated articles in recent days had suggested he would forced to resign should voters back the “yes” option in the referendum. His Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis had declared he would step down. Tsipras’ position would have been practically untenable.
Undoubtedly, the recent weeks have pushed him to his limits as Tsipras sought to convince the country to back and strengthen his position in negotiations with Greece’s three main creditors. In his efforts to sway voters, the charismatic leader toughened his rhetoric as he railed against Europe’s leaders.
The PM had declared the stance of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be equivalent to “blackmail.”
In his efforts to sway voters, the charismatic leader toughened his rhetoric as he railed against Europe’s leaders.
“I call on you to decide — with sovereignty and dignity as Greek history demands — whether we should accept the extortionate ultimatum that calls for strict and humiliating austerity without end, and without the prospect of ever standing on our own two feet, socially and financially,” he said last week in a televised address.
Thirst for politics
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addresses the public after Greece’s “no” vote in a key referendum.
Born in 1974, just a few days after end of Greece’s military junta and their seven-year rule. Tsipras became interested in politics while young, joining the youth wing of a local communist party and — aged just 16 — leading a protest against the privatization of education in the country. He occupied his school with fellow students during a sit-in and even appeared on TV defending the protest’s position.
A trained civil engineer, who continued to be politically active at university, by 1999 he was a key member of a left-wing party that later evolved into Syriza, whose name comes from the initials of the party’s full title: “The Coalition of the Radical Left.”
Standing as a candidate for the mayor of Athens in 2006, he scored 10 percent of the vote, finishing third and surpassing expectations — by 2009 he was Syriza’s leader.
Since then, he has overseen a incredible political transformation in Greece, winning a snap election in January 2015 with 36 percent of the vote and forming a government with the help of the more nationalist right-wing Independent Greeks. The statistics tell the tale of Syriza’s incredible surge to power — in 2004, the party won just 3.3 percent in the national election.
In power, Tsipras has continued to call for an end to austerity in Greece — Syriza’s key campaigning line in recent years — and the prime minister has pushed his belief in social fairness and responsibility. These sentiments, it is believed, are also discussed at home. Tsipras’ partner Peristera Batziana, a computer engineer, is known to have been a member of the same youth communist wing as he was. The couple have two sons, the younger of which has the middle name Ernesto — named in tribute to revolutionary leader Che Guevara.
Approachable and outspoken, Tsipras has been praised for the way he speaks for and communicates with everyday Greeks, a sentiment backed-up by his informal image. His refusal to wear a tie for meetings, for example, is more pointed that one may think at first glance. When presented with a gift from Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (naturally, a tie) on a foreign visit earlier this year, he declared he would wear it when Greece had successfully renegotiated austerity measures.
He has built a reputation for refusing to compromise. A self-declared athiest, when he was sworn into office after becoming prime minister, he broke with tradition by taking a civil rather than a religious oath of office.
Hailing yesterday’s “very brave choice” by the Greek people, Tsipras said that now he will return to negotiations with the country’s creditors with a new stance — “this time the issue of debt will be on the negotiating table,” he said to the nation in a televised address.
Syriza believes debt will now be discussed with its creditors after having their negotiating position seemingly strengthened by an IMF report last week that indicated Athens’ debt level was “unsustainable.” Some reports have claimed EU leaders tried to block its publication.
“I want to thank each and every one of you,” Tsipras posted on Twitter last night.
With his immediate political secured after a career-defining victory, such words were never more appropriate.
@URLgoeshere
Originally published in the Buenos Aires Herald, on Monday, July 6, 2015.