The money for bailout funds for Greece is coming predominantly from other European governments who want to see enormous change in the Greek financial system and have been pushing for reforms that go beyond what was agreed upon in the most recent bailout deal.
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addresses a meeting of his ruling radical left Syriza party’s central committee in Athens, on Thursday, July 30, 2015.
Hitting out at dissenters now openly courting a drachma return, Tsipras said that a Greek eurozone exit without reserves to support a new currency “would have led to massive devaluation, harsh austerity and a return to the global Monetary Fund”. “It will be a first encounter”, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Fully named the Coalition of the Radical Left, Syriza was formed as an alliance that eventually included about a dozen left-wing and anti-establishment groups who voted to become a unified party in 2013.
Tsipras proposed the party congress, which is expected to be a test of his leadership.
Bailout negotiations were launched in Greece this week, and have so far largely focused on tax reform, a planned overhaul of labor market regulations, and efforts to simplify bureaucracy for new businesses, as well as attempts to limit an expected recession through 2016.
The four institutions are due to meet Friday with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis.
Analysts say the party differences challenge Tsipras’ authority and complicate Greece’s bailout negotiations.
“This country no long has democracy, but a peculiar type of totalitarianism – a dictatorship of the euro“, prominent dissenter Panagiotis Lafazanis said.
Already, SYRIZA had left its mark, he claimed.
Tsipras would benefit from holding an emergency congress instead, which would enable him to bring in new members and capitalize on the wider public support he has secured over the past two years, making it easier to defeat the far-left camp. He added that a party congress would give the leftists the chance to “offer a definitive answer to the question of whether a leftist government can survive in a liberal, conservative Europe”.
As the very next line of that Reuters story points out, Tsipras is relying on opposition support for the bailout reforms, because some three dozen of the 149 Syriza members of parliament refuse to back them.
“Our priority is the [bailout] deal“, Gerovasili said.
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The Greek government has set a goal of reaching agreement on a third rescue package by August 18, two days before Athens is due to make a 3.2-billion-euro ($3.5 billion) payment on bonds held by the European Central Bank.
