Greece prepares itself to face another year of political turmoil

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/12/tsipras-militant-mps-break-ranks

Version 0 of 1.

Greece’s embattled prime minister is expected to come under intense fire in the coming weeks after leading figures in his own leftwing Syriza party rebelled against the adoption of further austerity as the price of keeping bankruptcy at bay.

The prospect of the crisis-hit country being thrown, headlong, into political turmoil drew nearer amid speculation that Alexis Tsipras will be forced not only to reshuffle his cabinet, possibly as early as Monday, but to call fresh elections in the autumn.

“I cannot support an austerity programme of neoliberal deregulation and privatisation,” said his energy minister, Panagiotis Lafazanis, after refusing to endorse further tax increases and spending cuts in an early-morning vote on Saturday.

“If accepted by the [creditor] institutions and put into practice, they will exacerbate the vicious circle of recession, poverty and misery.”

The Marxist politician, who heads Syriza’s militant wing and is in effect the government’s number three, was among 17 leftist MPs who broke ranks over the proposed reforms.

Other defectors included the president of the 300-seat parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou; the deputy social security minister, Dimitris Stratoulis; and the former London University economics professor Costas Lapavitsas. All described the policies – key to securing solvency in the form of a third bailout – as ideologically incompatible with Syriza’s anti-austerity platform.

Whatever the outcome of this weekend’s emergency summit, Tsipras will face intense pressure at home when he is forced to push several of the measures through parliament. The house is expected this week to vote on tax increases and pension cuts – crucial to receiving a bridging loan that will allow Athens to honour debt payments including €3bn to the European Central Bank on 20 July.

“It is very hard to see how a government with this make-up can pass these measures,” said the political commentator Paschos Mandravelis. “Already several prime ministers have been ousted during this crisis attempting to do that very thing. The idea of a leftist trying is almost inconceivable.”

Jubilation over Tsipras’s abrupt embrace of reforms he had previously spurned was reinforced when the political opposition threw its weight behind the measures. Highlighting the rare display of party unity, Stavros Theodorakis, who heads the pro-European centrist To Potami party, told parliament ahead of the vote that it was vital everything was done “to keep Greece in its natural place in the heart of Europe”. A total of 251 MPs backed the proposed €13bn package of savings.

But eurozone finance ministers gathering in Brussels on Saturday insisted that implementation was key.

Political analysts said Tsipras – at 40, the country’s youngest-ever leader – now had a chance to transform himself into a statesman by moving to the centre-left and occupying the middle ground. Elections could help him purge Syriza – a coalition of radical-left groups – of militants. The alternative was remaining an ideologue, resistant to reform and overseeing Greece’s guaranteed euro exit – if not now, then down the line.

Hopes of a cash-for-reform deal being reached were evident in the mood on the streets of the capital and also reflected in the business world, where companies reported an increase in turnover on the prospect of a financial lifeline being thrown to Greece.

“Since yesterday Greeks have started eating again,” said Michalis Alexiou, an employee in a catering firm in the northern suburb of Maroussi. “It’s incredible – businesses are suddenly no longer afraid to spend. Everyone is hoping for a solution.”