Ioannis Glinavos via Macropolis | Greece is heading for a general election on July 7. A great part of the political narrative around this election is a confrontation between a supposedly fantastical leftist alternative and a mature, European direction for Greece. The former is represented by Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA, while the latter is allegedly promised by Kyriakos Mitsotakis and New Democracy.
Jens Bastian | With Merkel’s gradual retreat from German politics, a new sense of political timing is set in motion across capital cities in Europe. How will Athens react to the gradual changing of the guards in Berlin? While much air time and social media is being consumed with domestic political quarrels in Greece, both government representatives and opposition parties will be well-advised to look closely at the next developments in Germany.
Greece has been let down on numerous occasions by its politicians and Tsipras has often criticised opposition parties for their role that led to the crisis in 2009 and its management subsequently. However, he must look back at those six months of 2015 and wonder what he was thinking.
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | Alexis Tsipras’s recent visit to the USA was something of a curate’s egg, ranging between high diplomacy and acute embarrassment. It would be wrong, though, to dismiss its implications.
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | In a sense, there is very little point in evaluating Greece’s agreement with its lenders. After all, it is not as if there were a variety of other options available.
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | A pointless referendum, a prime minister resigning, the opposition collapsing in a heap, the finance minister disappearing and nobody having any plan about what to do: This has all happened over the last few years in Greece. Never, though, all at the same time as has just occurred in the UK.
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | In the shapeshifting world of Alexis Tsipras, it is difficult to know where things actually stand. His relatively brief time in power is littered with skins that have been shed and vows that have been broken.
Yiannnis Mouzakis via Macropolis | Following Saturday’s leak of the exchange between the IMF’s European Department director Poul Thomsen and the head of the mission to Greece Delia Velculescu, PmAlexis Tsipras’s reading of the situation and his reaction to the WikiLeaks publication were puzzling.
Yiannis Mouzakis via Macropolis | During 2015, Greece’s ability to meet its debt obligations became one of the most drama-ridden aspects of a story that started unfolding when SYRIZA won the January elections.
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | There are probably a number of officials in European capitals, and perhaps Washington, who have been scratching their heads over the past few days after the Greek government indicated that it would prefer the International Monetary Fund not to be involved in the country’s bailout.