The publication of the records from the Council of Political Leaders meeting of July 6, 2015 by the newspaper “TA NEA” has reopened the discussion about former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ intentions at that time. Political observers, after reading the records, noted that all the propagandistic fake news of an entire decade against the former prime minister regarding the referendum had collapsed, and they highlighted that the records reveal his negotiation strategy: the referendum aimed at an agreement for debt restructuring, thanks to which Greece definitively exited the bailout programs.
They also recalled that at the time, in his televised address, the former prime minister had emphasized, among other things, that “Sunday’s referendum is not about whether or not our country remains in the eurozone. This is a given and no one can question it. On Sunday we choose whether we will accept this specific agreement or immediately demand, with the people’s mandate, a viable solution. In any case, I want to assure the Greek people that the government’s firm intention is to achieve an agreement with our partners, with terms of viability and prospects. Already, after our decision for a referendum, better proposals for the debt and its necessary restructuring have fallen on the table than those we had until Friday. We did not let them fall through. We immediately submitted our counter-proposals, seeking a viable solution, and for this reason the Eurogroup was convened urgently yesterday, which will discuss again this afternoon. If there is a positive outcome, we will respond immediately. In any case, the Greek government remains at the negotiating table and will remain until the end. And it will be there on Monday, immediately after the referendum, with better terms for the Greek side.”
They also point out that no “NO” became a “YES,” as the 110 pages of records, with statements by Alexis Tsipras, Vangelis Meimarakis, Fofi Gennimata, Stavros Theodorakis, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, and Panos Kammenos, in the presence of the then President of the Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, clearly show the former prime minister’s intentions as well as the position taken by all political leaders.
“Alexis Tsipras achieved his goal of leveraging the referendum for an agreement with debt restructuring prospects”
Through the dialogues published by the newspaper, the climate of anxiety and political dilemmas that existed during the meeting is clearly visible, as well as the tensions and decisions that ultimately determined the country’s European trajectory. The same people also note that through the records it is clearly evident that, in reality, Alexis Tsipras absolutely achieved the goal he had set, which was none other than to leverage the referendum for an agreement with debt restructuring prospects, as, as is known, Greece, thanks to this agreement, definitively exited the bailout programs on August 21, 2018.
Moreover, they note that through the dialogues it emerges that until Wednesday before the referendum, the Greek government was in open negotiation with the institutions for an agreement that would contain adequate financing and debt restructuring.
What emerges from the Council of Political Leaders records
Furthermore, based on the report, it appears that Alexis Tsipras, whatever he said publicly in his televised addresses about the referendum, he also said within the Council of Leaders. Moreover, he informed the political leaders of the national negotiation strategy within the Council, aiming for a fair and viable agreement. The basis for negotiation was the improved Juncker proposal, which the latter sent three days after the referendum announcement, with five key changes to the prerequisite measures and three decisive conditions (debt restructuring, full coverage of the country’s financing needs during the program, and a strong development investment package).
As emerges from the records, New Democracy, PASOK, and To Potami agreed with the negotiation strategy set by Alexis Tsipras and did not add or change anything. Conversely, those who had been saying “YES” to all EU terms throughout the week before the vote, demonstrating against the referendum, were forced within the Council of Leaders to accept the three basic conditions that Alexis Tsipras set for debt and program financing, as a national line. Conditions to which the EU had refused to commit until then.
And obviously, the publication of the records demolishes the myth that supposedly no records were kept. On the contrary, there was an agreement to release the records to the public immediately “after the end of the alarm” (i.e., the end of the crisis), as Stavros Theodorakis characteristically mentioned.
