An Exasperated Tsipras Calls For Syriza Referendum On Bailout Cancellation
Anyone who thought Greece’s third bailout program was a done deal or that, at the very least, the market would get a few months of respite before having to grapple with daily Grexit headlines again, got a rude awakening late last week when reports of a secret plot (hatched by ex-Energy Minister Panayiotis Lafazanis along with several Left Platform co-conspirators) to storm the Greek mint and seize the country’s currency reserves underscored the deep divisions within Syriza and betrayed the extent to which passing a third set of prior actions and sealing the deal on an ESM program would prove to be anything but simple.
Just days after Lafazanis’ plan leaked last week, Kathimerini claimed it had transcripts from a conference call between former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and international hedge fund managers during which Varoufakis described yet another secret ploy to return the country to the drachma by way of establishing a parallel payments system set up using surreptitiously obtained tax filer ID numbers. Later, the full audio recording was released.
At that juncture, the opposition parties which helped PM Alexis Tsipras beat back a Syriza rebellion and pass the first two sets of bailout prior actions through parliament began to ask questions.
Essentially, opposition lawmakers wanted to know whether Tsipras was allowing his party to undermine progress on the bailout just as he was desperately courting MPs from across the aisle in order to win parliamentary approval for the deal’s conditions.
On Wednesday, in an interview with Sto Kokkino radio, Tsipras addressed friction within the party andsuggested that if he lost his majority in parliament he would call for snap elections.
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