Defiant Message From Greece

Eurokinisi
Alexis Tsipras, party leader of Syriza, at a swearing-in at Parliament Thursday, which followed a ceremony installing the cabinet earlier in the day.

ATHENS. (Wall Street Journal). The head of Greece's radical left party—throwing down a gauntlet that could increase tensions between Greece and its frustrated European creditors—said he sees little chance Europe will cut off funding to the country but that if it does, Athens will stop paying its debts. A financial collapse in Greece would drag down the rest of the euro zone, said Alexis Tsipras, the 37-year-old head of the Coalition of the Radical Left, known as Syriza, and potentially the country's next prime minister. Instead, he said, Europe must consider a more growth-oriented policy to arrest Greece's spiraling recession and address what he called a growing "humanitarian crisis" facing the country.

"Our first choice is to convince our European partners that, in their own interest, financing must not be stopped," Mr. Tsipras said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

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May 18, 2012

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1. Dionysios Markopoulos wrote on May 18, 2012 11:09 AM	So Tsipras' plan is to threaten Europe with economic ruin. What a fool! Europe as a whole is situated to ride out the economic turmail a Greek default and exit fromt he Euro would have. Greece on the other hand is already experiencing severe hardships. In such a game of brinksmanship, Greece has multiple times more to lose than Europe. And not only that, but the Europeans have many ways to punish Greece if Greece brings the European house crashing down on everyone. The easiest way is to allow Turkey to take the oil and natural gas in the Agean and to recognize occupied Cyprus as a sovereign state. Tsipras is setting the stage for a far more dangerous result than he and the Greeks who intend to vote for him suppose.

2. Philip Vorgias wrote on May 18, 2012 1:31 PM	Brinksmanship is NEVER justifiable as national policy, Dionysios. A wise government never lets it get to that point. Greece depends almost entirely on EU capital inflow-so how smart is it to piss off all the citizens in the nations who provide your tourists and buy your goods? Greeks are cutting their own throats to cure a toothache. Once they are tossed from the EUROZONE and possibly the EU Greece is finished. Kaput. You may as well scrap all the cars and bring the donkeys back out. Greece will look like it did back in the 1940's, with people dressed like Albanians. Utterly appalling.

3. sofia huling wrote on May 24, 2012 3:25 PM	When was the last time Greece had a wise government? Tragic, tragic indeed.

4. Philip Vorgias wrote on May 24, 2012 4:12 PM	Georgaki was a doofus. Karamanlis was asleep at the wheel. Simitis considered Greek nationalism to be fallback of fools. I guess a dangerous demagogue like Tsipras is in good company.
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013 Last Update: 3:50 AM ET

Defiant Message From Greece

May 18, 2012

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