ATHENS – A progressive coalition government built around SYRIZA – provided it comes first in elections – will be a four-year government providing stability in Greece, SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance party leader Alexis Tsipras said on Monday.

Tsipras made the statement in a discussion with journalist Dora Anagnostopoulou at the two-day congress of the Institute of Alternative Policies (ENA), whose focus is “For a Progressive Agenda of the Next Decade: Goals, Priorities, Policies”.

Tsipras said that a coalition government around currently ruling New Democracy (ND) led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis cannot be viable because of the need for a program agreement. “What kind of program agreement can be achieved by a party that forms the core of the neoliberal point of view, with parties that call themselves progressive?,” the main opposition leader said.

“It is more feasible than ever that Syriza comes out first in the simple representation vote” during the first round of elections, he said.

Asked to comment on the stance of socialist PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL), he said the priority was to discuss policies rather than what individual could lead a coalition governmnet. Referring to the party’s leader Nikos Androulakis – who said a coalition government should not include either Tsipras or Mitsotakis as its head – Tsipras responded, “Mr. Mitsotakis is a problem in himself, but the greatest problem for Greece is his policy – of privatizations, direct contract allocation, and undermining of the social state.” A progressive government will need to change that policy, he added.