Alexis Tsipras

Former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke about Novartis, TV licenses, wiretapping, the referendum, Andreas Papandreou and the opposition’s inability to play its role in Parliament.

This is his first public statement after his resignation from SYRIZA at the conference organized by Kathimerini, together with the National Bank Educational Foundation (MIET), the Delphi Forum and the Hellenic Observatory of the London School of Economics (LSE ) at the National Gallery, with the theme “Postcolonization: 50 years later”.

The three achievements of the SYRIZA government that I am proud of

• I am not happy for the country because after 50 years of smooth progress, the young people are leaving the country again.
• There has been a crack in the postcolonial social contract.
• It is evident that the new generations see that they will live worse than the previous ones.
• Personally, I cannot be proud of the fact that despite our intentions, through mistakes and omissions, we have given an image different from what we intended.
• I am disappointed that while we have achieved much, we have culpably managed our great success: managing the country’s most critical moment, the crisis.
• I am disappointed that we have not been able to complete a velvety separation of Church and State.
• The partnership with ANEL was made based on the possibilities that existed.
• The country remains synonymous with Freedom and Democracy and I am proud of it.
• For my government, I am proud of 3 things: 1) for the exit from the Memorandum, 2) for the Prespa Agreement, 3) for the fact that despite the difficult times, the SYRIZA government was the most honest of the post-colonial era in terms of management of public money.

I was never a fan of Andrea Papandreou – Papandreou had two faces

• My father was a member of PASOK, my mother a voter and my brothers were organized in the KNE.
• I remember in the 1981 elections, seeing their two sad faces because the KKE did not get 17%.
• I organized myself in the communist Left when all certainties were collapsing.
• What led me there was the vision, the dream that you can change the world through the movement of History.
• I was never a fan of Andreas Papandreou.
• Maybe some were upset because the 2015 wave looked like the 1981 wave.
• I oppose the copycat nonsense.
• A. Papandreou was an emblematic figure, because he completed the Post-colonization.
• It created the conditions for a large part of the population to join social and political life.
• It gave visibility to a large part of the population.
• He also made major changes to modernize the country.
• There is Papandreou’s aspect of “Change” and there is also the end of governance, when he himself became an establishment.
• Mitsotakis’ stance with the Special Court is vengeful.
• The Special Court for Andreas Papandreou is a great responsibility of the Left.

I am happy that my own government played an important role in normalizing relations with the US

• There is a historical reason and reason why the course of the Polytechnic ends at the American embassy.
• The essence of the Polytechnic rebellion is found in the messages.
• My anti-Americanism always had a context, even when I was young.
• I was inspired by Martin Luther King and the movements that were forming in the USA.
• I am glad that my own government played a role in normalizing relations with the US.
• All post-colonial governments have always had close relations with everyone in foreign policy.
• The first to pave the way for a multidimensional foreign policy was Konstantinos Karamanlis.

Our era resembles the end of the Middle Ages

• It is true that we have passed through a period where the development of technology and communication, but also the discrediting of politics, have led us to a new reality, to a confrontation without a strong political weight.
• It is a sign of the times that does not only concern our country.
• The world is tired.
• Since 2008 we have been going through a period of crisis.
• Our era is similar – with important differences – to what humanity was experiencing at the end of the interwar period.

In Novartis and the TV licenses our management was unfortunate

• I admit that in the Novartis case and the TV license case, our management was unfortunate.
• Our intention was to create a favorable context in the broadcasting landscape.
• In the Novartis case we had a big scandal, our intention not to intervene in that scandal gave the impression that we were lumping people who might have been involved with people who weren’t.
• There were mistakes in our handling. The comparison with the current data of the Mitsotakis government regarding the Rule of Law is not valid.
• If today’s resolution of the European Parliament had existed during my administration, I would not have been able to stand in the Maximos Palace for a single day. The same applies to follow-ups.

The Left must reflect

• The Left does not manage to keep up with the developments and to give the prospect of excitement and a better life.
• The Left must reflect because its values ​​are timeless.

Wiretapping is an unprecedented scandal – The advance of the opposition is a big risk

• The Republic is celebrating 50 years, but there is a black stain on its official dress which is the stain of wiretapping.
• The wiretapping was an unprecedented scandal.
• There is an attempt to cover up the responsibilities for Tempi.
• A Democracy without strong institutional counterweights, with a very weak Judiciary, is definitely suffering.
• I believe that the weakness of the progressive space and the opposition creates conditions for strengthening an opposition current.

I didn’t think that the “first time on the Left” would be a historic rematch

• Within 3 years we managed for the country to have a clean exit from the Memoranda.
• We had an institutional and continuous communication with Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
• We also had a human relationship that had been cultivated since the 2008 season.
• I had no idea that “the first time on the Left” would be a historic rematch.

There were persons and forces that flirted with the need for the country to leave the euro

• The country could not proceed without a new loan agreement.
• Europe’s leadership did not dare to take a step back.
• The referendum dramatized the developments and enabled both sides to take a step back.
• We made reforms at a political cost.
• The European leadership gave the prospect of a way out with debt restructuring.
• We brought a Memorandum, we were locked into persons who had personal agendas.
• There were persons and forces that flirted with the need for the country to leave the euro.
• And the Left misrecognized the dangers of the economy.
• We were left to the narrative of the supposedly shielded economy.
• To a question about the referendum: Not even for a moment did it cross my mind to negotiate the country’s presence in the EU. and in the euro.
• It was a dramatic moment, but it was the culmination of a long period of austerity and weakness of European leadership.
• We had a popular mandate to negotiate so that there would be a viable prospect of exiting the crisis with society on its feet.

We were driven to crisis because of the betrayal of post-colonial values

• These 50 years have been significant missed opportunities
• The first concerns the economy, the second the functioning of institutions and the Rule of Law.
• We have not achieved a substantial developmental leap in these 50 years.
• The country has been led into an unprecedented bankruptcy crisis and we must look for the causes of this crisis.
• Many have said that we were led to the crisis because of the failure of Postcolonialism.
• I will say that we were led because of the betrayal of the values ​​of the Post-colonialism.
• PASOK and ND have equal responsibilities because they betrayed their own ideological principles.
• They turned into parties without a coherent ideology.
• The country stopped producing and stopped taxing.
• ND revised a basic principle of its identity which was good fiscal management.

The moment of Postcolonialism was a great intersection

• I was born 4 days after the Postcolonization.
• I have memories from 1980 onwards.
• The shock wave of Postcolonialism lasted many years.
• I remember as a child the anticipation of big changes.
• I remember election night in 1981.
• Politics had entered every home and every consciousness at that time.
• The moment of Postcolonialism was a great intersection
• This moment was founded in the context of two traumas: the tragedy in Cyprus and the Polytechnic uprising.