Tsakalotos wary of post-election alliances
Former SYRIZA finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos has voiced skepticism over post-electoral cooperation with New Democracy, PASOK and Potami, accusing Greece’s pro-bailout parties of being corrupt and reactionary.
In an interview with Kathimerini, the man who signed Greece’s third international bailout agreement this summer also ruled out the chance of a grand coalition if no clear winner emerges in Sunday’s election, which virtually all polls show as a neck-and-neck race.
“The situation is very difficult, because on one hand we cannot have a repeat election and, on the other, I do not see how SYRIZA could work with PASOK and Potami, let alone New Democracy,” Tsakalotos said.
“These parties, especially PASOK and ND, have built their social alliances – and hence their political power – on clientelism and tax evasion,” he said, adding that the final say lies with Alexis Tsipras’s party.
Asked about the prospect of a national coalition government, Tsakalotos, a Marxist economist, said that no aspect of policymaking – whether it emanates from the memorandum or not – is “class neutral.”
“Democracy is based on the clash of values, policy proposals and visions,” he said while criticizing the “cannibalism” and “civil strife” that has swept the Greek left following SYRIZA’s U-turn on the memorandum.
Meanwhile, in a separate interview, conservative heavyweight Dora Bakoyannis said the successful implementation of the Greek program requires cooperation between political foes. “But it is important that the government formed [after the vote] is centered around ND, which is able to and determined to promote reforms,” the former minister told Kathimerini.
