Tsipras, who resigned Thursday and called for snap elections September 20, has said he fought hard to keep his promise and settled for the best deal he could get.
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Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s prime minister, handed in his resignation and called a snap election last night (Thursday), saying he had a “moral obligation” to lay his actions before the judgment of the people. “That has not changed”, Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, told reporters.
Should all efforts to form a new government from the current parliament fail, the President calls early elections that should be conducted within a month and appoints a caretaker government.
Under the terms of the bail-out, Athens is expected to carry out further reforms to cut its pension spending and revamp its tax laws in order to remain eligible for more cash in October.
On Friday, Mr. Pavlopoulos mandated the head of Greece’s conservative New Democracy party, Evangelos Meimarakis, with the task of forming a government.
Greek MPs from the Left Platform faction within the coalition of radical left-wing forces – Syriza have chose to form a new independent parliamentary group.
“But the one thing that we can continue to look for in Greece is that anti-austerity movement coming from the streets and communities”, he said.
However, it is unlikely Meimarakis or the new party will be able to form a government.
But the deal came with strict terms for more belt-tightening. But he was forced to move quickly after almost a third of Syriza lawmakers refused to back the programme in parliament last week, robbing him of his majority. “Regardless the election, Greece’s problems will not disappear anywhere”, he told Helsingin Sanomat newspaper.
Constantopoulou is now rumoured to be considering joining the anti-bailout Popular Unity group, which takes its name from the leftist alliance that brought Salvador Allende to power in Chile in 1970.
The political uncertainty took its toll on the market, with the Athens Stock Exchange closing 3.5 per cent.
But it had said its priority was getting the first instalment from the bailout and making a debt repayment to the European Central Bank, both of which it did on Thursday.
“Now that this hard cycle has ended…”
“I feel the deep ethical and political responsibility to put to your judgment all I have done – successes and failures”, he said. But the agreement enabled Greece to receive the first tranche of its €86bn (£62bn) bailout programme yesterday.
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“It’s clear that they had given a heads up and it seems that they [Europeans] are supporting him in this”, Palaiologos says.
