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Man who could sink the world economy
In his fresh linen suit and crisp white shirt, Alexis Tsipras cuts a dashing figure.
In his fresh linen suit and crisp white shirt, Alexis Tsipras cuts a dashing figure. And on the podium on Sunday, exactly one week before Greeks cast their ballots in the most crucial election since their country emerged from the ashes of civil war, the young leftist leader was on vintage form, fists punching the air as the crowd cheered on the man many have come to see as Greece’s salvation in its greatest hour of need.
As he crisscrosses Greece, the message is the same. “We speak the language of hope,” says Tsipras, “where others speak the language of fear.”
The language of hope is what Tsipras is good at. More than two years into an economic crisis that is increasingly being compared to a war, Tsipras’ fiery, feelgood, anti-austerity rhetoric has gone down a treat. So, too, have his fierce denunciations of the corrupt political elite, crooked bankers and barbaric measures that have led to Greece’s descent into penury.
Six weeks ago, Tsipras was barely known beyond the borders of his homeland. Today, his Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), is a frontrunner in the battle to rule the country. Since emerging as the surprise runner-up of May’s indecisive elections, Syriza — an alliance of ex-communists, former Stalinists, greens and socialists — has gone from strength to strength.
But creditors have made it clear that if Athens rescinds the structural reforms seen as vital to kickstarting its moribund economy, further injections of cash will stop. Without the money, Greece will have to default, declare bankruptcy and leave the eurozone, sending the 17-nation bloc into a tailspin from which the global economy might take decades to recover. The stakes have never been higher.
“If Syriza comes first, Europe should be very afraid: my expectation is that … we would have chaos," says Prof Kevin Featherstone, head of the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics. “There would be huge instability and uncertainty on international financial markets with a government lacking clarity of purpose being forced to make decisions.”
While Tsipras has the freshness of youth on his side, he has been criticised for scoring easy points as a demagogue and a populist. He has spoken of the need to nationalise banks, expand the public sector and stop all forms of privatisation. His economic policy would extend unemployment benefits, raise the minimum wage and cut taxes.
Increasingly, Tsipras has been likened to Andreas Papandreou, the Pasok party leader who was swept to power in 1981 promising to take Greece out of the then-EEC and Nato. The socialist strongman has been much blamed for instigating the state profligacy that has since brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.
