Lunch with Alexis Tsipras, Greece's rising star

EUROKINISSI
Leftist politician Alexis Tsipras skyrocketed to power by promising to tear up the now infamous memorandum that former Prime Minister George Papandreou reluctantly signed with the Troika, made up of the EU, the ECB and the International Monetary Fund.

(CNN) – The room was filled with a certain buzz and not an empty seat could be found in the grand ballroom. I counted 14 television cameras lined up across the back of the room, and the center table where I was sitting had chief executives representing about a dozen sectors from advertising to power transmission.

A few minutes later a young, dapper man in a cobalt blue suit, matching suede loafers and a crisp white shirt - minus a tie - takes the center seat to my right. All eyes fix their gaze on Greece's rising star, 38 year-old Alexis Tsipras.

With a calm demeanor, but electric smile, the leader of the far left Syriza party and now the official opposition in the Greek parliament greets the host of the conference Daniel Franklin, executive editor of the Economist magazine. He turns and offers the same warm handshake to me and the first public policy address to the Greek business community gets underway.

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July 04, 2012

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1. Philip Vorgias wrote on July 04, 2012 5:14 PM	I have no issue with this guy as long as he stays in his current spot-vocal opposition to the actual government. He'll keep Samaras on his toes and can serve as a contrast to show the TROIKA who they'll be dealing with if this government fails. But a national leader he absolutely is not.

2. Nicholas Kostopoulos wrote on July 04, 2012 6:01 PM	If you think Samaras is a good leader, well you are wrong. As he has done so far, he has followed his usual pattern of stupidity and usual government of Greece. Time is so short so if Samaras fails which appears at this junction as most likely, he will give the doubters of any change to shown them that this government is "As Greece as Usual". A change in direction must happen or else Greece has had it.

3. Philip Vorgias wrote on July 04, 2012 7:05 PM	Never said I thought Samaras was a 'good leader', I said he was the best in the field. These are all lifelong Greek politicians afterall, you're not dealing with a select group of top performers. Given the weak field Samaras was the best option. I said that then and I stick by it now.

4. Niko Seretis wrote on July 04, 2012 9:09 PM	Samaras was the best candidate from the pool of names Greeks had to choose from. He's a career politician but hopefully he'll start off with some big moves like reducing the size of government and try and convict some of the thieves in government. Only then will he begin to earn the respect of Greeks and Europeans.

5. Aristide Caratzas wrote on July 05, 2012 6:14 AM	Tsipras is in fact a leftist whose reality is to be found in the mythic world that has spelled sure failure for all those who have been its communicants, beginning with the Soviet Union. Syriza, his party is made up of a hard core of nuts ("Marxist-Leninists," "Maoists," "Trotskyites" and the like), who bring in a standard 3-4% of the vote in Greece, while the remainder largely are disaffected PASOK civil servants and union members, who are angry because they can't live off the rest of society. Andreas Papandreou was a grand demagogue (in the style of Juan Peron), who legitimated much of the pathology that resulted in the recent economic crash. Little Tsipras, even if he wanted, cannot follow the road of Andreas, the money and the credit simply are not there; unlike Chavez of Venezuela, who has oil wells, and thus can posture, the Greekling leftists are naked. Finally, the comparison with Putin is wrong: Putin is deeply committed to Russia and to Orthodoxy, he is conscious of the weight of and role that history plays in the identity of his people. Tsipras is a little atheist snit, who could just as easily feel at home in Moldavia or North Korea, assuming he could reproduce his turgid thoughts in their languages.

6. Philip Vorgias wrote on July 05, 2012 7:01 AM	Solid argument, Aristide. Kudos.

7. Nicholas Kostopoulos wrote on July 05, 2012 9:30 AM	You have described the clown, Tsipras as he truly is Aristide. He is all talk with no plan at all on how to deal with Greece's disastrous economy. It is a economy in name only, and bankruptcy most probably will come in the future. His actions and speeches have given no specifies, in other words he doesn't know how to fix this mess called a economy. So ends his message of hope, and the beginning of the end.

8. diogenes kekatos wrote on July 05, 2012 9:44 AM	Couldn't have put it any better, Aristede -- including your making the astute distinction between Putin and this malignancy Tsipras that's completely lost on the CNN correspondent who wrote this article. In fact, what Greece precisely needs right now is a strong leader like Putin. It won't get it; not from the current collection of kleptocrats and Marxists.

9. Philip Vorgias wrote on July 05, 2012 10:06 AM	If Greece goes bankrupt the private economy will still exist the next day, it's the government economy that won't. Private companies will still be doing business as usual, the public workers and those on a government pension will be the ones in trouble.
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Thursday, May 23, 2013 Last Update: 8:43 PM ET

Lunch with Alexis Tsipras, Greece's rising star

July 04, 2012

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