THE Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke at the European Parliament on Wednesday morning stating that he was seeking an ‘honourable compromise’ with the European leaders. He repeated his claim that the overwhelming ‘NO’ of the Greek people in last Sunday’s referendum against EC-IMF-ECB austerity ‘doesn’t mean a rupture’.
Tsipras described the Greek people as ‘exhausted’ by the troika-imposed austerity accords, stating that ‘my country has been transformed into a laboratory of austerity’ but this ‘experiment’ has failed and now public debt has reached 180 per cent of GDP. He said that ‘Greek people want to be liberated from austerity.’
Tsipras appealed to ‘our partners’ for a deal which will include ‘reforms’ and ‘restructuring’ of the Greek public debt so that it becomes ‘viable’. He said that he presented his proposals to the European leaders on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday, he was applying to the ESM for immediate emergency funding. Tsipras emphasised that the bail-out money did not go to the Greek people but was used ‘to save the Greek and European banks’.
He attacked the alliance of the political establishment, oligarchs and banks. We are not here to collide with Europe,’ Tsipras said. ‘This is a European not a Greek problem and that is why a European solution is needed.’ A compromise is needed and ‘we are looking for a honourable compromise’, he said.
He was fiercely attacked by the right-wing conservative and liberal European parliament groups’ leaders. Social-democratic speakers said that Europe must not be divided and that a Grexit must to be accepted. They also said that there must be an ‘examination’ of restructuring the Greek debt.
In Athens, the Conservative Party spokesperson Kyriakos Mistotakis, a fanatical supporter of troika-imposed austerity, demanded another meeting of the Greek political parties’ leaders to further push Tsipras to fully accept the diktats of the troika. Greek media reports say that the Finance Ministry is preparing to issue IOU currency if there is no deal by Sunday.
