{"id":400,"date":"2015-07-06T05:23:17","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T05:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/?p=400"},"modified":"2015-07-06T15:32:26","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T15:32:26","slug":"pm-tsipras-the-true-victor-after-greferendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/pm-tsipras-the-true-victor-after-greferendum\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Tsipras the true victor after \u2018Greferendum\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""No"<\/a>

“No” supporters celebrate in Athens.<\/p><\/div>\n

Syriza\u2019s leader can celebrate career-defining win<\/h4>\n

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras quickly took to Twitter after the results of yesterday\u2019s \u201cGreferendum,\u201d as he called it, became clearer.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s referendum doesn\u2019t have winners or losers. It is a great victory, in and of itself. Even in the most difficult circumstances, democracy can\u2019t be blackmailed \u2014 it is a dominant value and the way forward,\u201d he posted.<\/p>\n

The rhetoric was more inclusive, but in truth Tsipras probably knows he is perhaps the biggest \u201cwinner\u201d of all, considering the results of yesterday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

As much as the country, the Syriza leader\u2019s future had been on the line. In recent days, lawmakers from his coalition partners, The Independent Greeks, had hinted at a break in their alliance and repeated articles in recent days had suggested he would forced to resign should voters back the \u201cyes\u201d option in the referendum. His Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis had declared he would step down. Tsipras\u2019 position would have been practically untenable.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, the recent weeks have pushed him to his limits as Tsipras sought to convince the country to back and strengthen his position in negotiations with Greece\u2019s three main creditors. In his efforts to sway voters, the charismatic leader toughened his rhetoric as he railed against Europe\u2019s leaders.<\/p>\n

The PM had declared the stance of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be equivalent to \u201cblackmail.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his efforts to sway voters, the charismatic leader toughened his rhetoric as he railed against Europe\u2019s leaders.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI call on you to decide \u2014 with sovereignty and dignity as Greek history demands \u2014 whether we should accept the extortionate ultimatum that calls for strict and humiliating austerity without end, and without the prospect of ever standing on our own two feet, socially and financially,\u201d he said last week in a televised address.<\/p>\n

Thirst for politics<\/h4>\n
\"Greek<\/a>

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addresses the public after Greece’s “no” vote in a key referendum.<\/p><\/div>\n

Born in 1974, just a few days after end of Greece\u2019s military junta and their seven-year rule. Tsipras became interested in politics while young, joining the youth wing of a local communist party and \u2014 aged just 16 \u2014 leading a protest against the privatization of education in the country. He occupied his school with fellow students during a sit-in and even appeared on TV defending the protest\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

A trained civil engineer, who continued to be politically active at university, by 1999 he was a key member of a left-wing party that later evolved into Syriza, whose name comes from the initials of the party\u2019s full title: \u201cThe Coalition of the Radical Left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing as a candidate for the mayor of Athens in 2006, he scored 10 percent of the vote, finishing third and surpassing expectations \u2014 by 2009 he was Syriza\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n

Since then, he has overseen a incredible political transformation in Greece, winning a snap election in January 2015 with 36 percent of the vote and forming a government with the help of the more nationalist right-wing Independent Greeks. The statistics tell the tale of Syriza\u2019s incredible surge to power \u2014 in 2004, the party won just 3.3 percent in the national election.<\/p>\n

In power, Tsipras has continued to call for an end to austerity in Greece \u2014 Syriza\u2019s key campaigning line in recent years \u2014 and the prime minister has pushed his belief in social fairness and responsibility. These sentiments, it is believed, are also discussed at home. Tsipras\u2019 partner Peristera Batziana, a computer engineer, is known to have been a member of the same youth communist wing as he was. The couple have two sons, the younger of which has the middle name Ernesto \u2014 named in tribute to revolutionary leader Che Guevara.<\/p>\n

Approachable and outspoken, Tsipras has been praised for the way he speaks for and communicates with everyday Greeks, a sentiment backed-up by his informal image. His refusal to wear a tie for meetings, for example, is more pointed that one may think at first glance. When presented with a gift from Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (naturally, a tie) on a foreign visit earlier this year, he declared he would wear it when Greece had successfully renegotiated austerity measures.<\/p>\n

He has built a reputation for refusing to compromise. A self-declared athiest, when he was sworn into office after becoming prime minister, he broke with tradition by taking a civil rather than a religious oath of office.<\/p>\n

Hailing yesterday\u2019s \u201cvery brave choice\u201d by the Greek people, Tsipras said that now he will return to negotiations with the country\u2019s creditors with a new stance \u2014 \u201cthis time the issue of debt will be on the negotiating table,\u201d he said to the nation in a televised address.<\/p>\n

Syriza believes debt will now be discussed with its creditors after having their negotiating position seemingly strengthened by an IMF report last week that indicated Athens\u2019 debt level was \u201cunsustainable.\u201d Some reports have claimed EU leaders tried to block its publication.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank each and every one of you,\u201d Tsipras posted on Twitter last night.<\/p>\n

With his immediate political secured after a career-defining victory, such words were never more appropriate.<\/p>\n

@URLgoeshere<\/p>\n

Originally published in the Buenos Aires Herald<\/span><\/a><\/span>, on Monday, July\u00a06, 2015.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Link: http:\/\/www.buenosairesherald.com\/article\/193286\/pm-tsipras-the-true-victor-after-winning-strong-backing-in-%E2%80%98greferendum%E2%80%99<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Syriza\u2019s leader can celebrate career-defining win Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras quickly took to Twitter after the results of yesterday\u2019s \u201cGreferendum,\u201d as he called it, became clearer. \u201cToday\u2019s referendum doesn\u2019t have winners or losers. It is a great victory, in and of itself. Even in the most difficult circumstances, democracy can\u2019t be blackmailed \u2014 it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,39,218,101,471,470,37,99],"tags":[483,515,476,474,153,478,456,172,472,482,475,479,44,210,480,473,477,481],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buenos-aires-herald","category-comment","category-economics","category-europe","category-european-union","category-greece","category-journalism","category-world","tag-alexis-tsipras","tag-buenos-aires-herald","tag-creditors","tag-ecb","tag-eu","tag-euro","tag-european-union","tag-germany","tag-greece","tag-greferendum","tag-imf","tag-no","tag-politics-2","tag-referendum","tag-result","tag-syriza","tag-troika","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402,"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jgrainger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}