The former prime minister is set to announce tonight a fully realistic program built on existing state funds and European programs that will replace the Recovery Fund — resources which, as Alexis Tsipras will argue, the New Democracy government has been deploying in the wrong direction.
Alexis Tsipras: The three core rules behind ELAS’s economic program
The guiding principle of the ELAS leader is to eliminate any risk of fiscal derailment. To that end, every proposal has been fully costed, and where necessary, equivalent offsetting measures will be in place. Within this framework, Tsipras is expected to present three fundamental pillars on which his party’s economic planning will rest.
- No permanent benefit without a permanent funding source, and no permanent expenditure financed by one-off revenue.
- Every measure will be implemented in phases, evaluated before being expanded, and reassessed annually.
- For every benefit, it will be clearly defined where the funding comes from, when it can be realized, and how.
What the ELAS four-year program (2027–2030) will cost
Well aware that ELAS’s proposals will be placed under the microscope by both the government and PASOK, the economic team around party leader Amalia — comprising Giorgos Chouliarakis, Dimitris Liakos, Fragkiskos Koutentakis, and Evgenia Fotoniata — has finalized a plan covering the four-year period from 2027 to 2030. The plan carries a gross cost of €7.39 billion, with new permanent revenues of €1.92 billion, a net expenditure of €5.47 billion, and available fiscal space of €5.6 billion. The ELAS leader’s advisors also assert that, as designed, the program leaves room for a reserve buffer.
How ELAS is trying to leave the 2019 program behind
At its core, Alexis Tsipras wants to exorcise the past — and more specifically, the memory of 2019, when the party’s program of that era was riddled with ambiguities.
Key pillars of the proposed Plan for Productive Transformation and Fair Development will include the National Convergence Fund, which will replace the Recovery and Resilience Facility — described as “the great lost national opportunity” of the Mitsotakis government.
A fairer distribution of burdens will be achieved through the rationalization of the tax load on employees and self-employed workers, as well as the introduction of a Patriotic Contribution levy.
Alexis Tsipras is expected to speak about fiscal credibility — stressing, however, that it does not mean social stagnation — underlining that it is a progressive obligation for a state to be able to consistently protect its most vulnerable citizens.
He will also set out a vision of productive reconstruction and decentralization, redistribution, and Fair Development — a National Reconstruction Plan built on the triptych: “We produce more, we share more fairly, we live better.”
The former prime minister’s associates appear particularly optimistic about the program’s resonance with the public, given its focus on a fairer distribution of burdens. Those same aides emphasize that what sets ELAS apart politically from other parties is “not that we promise more — it’s that we know what we are promising and where the money comes from. You will only hear about permanent measures where there are permanent revenues,” they added.
On the issue of the 13th pension payment, Alexis Tsipras is expected to turn his fire on the government, arguing that despite years of talk about a return to normality, it has taken no action whatsoever on this front.
The ELAS plan encompasses tackling the cost-of-living crisis while simultaneously boosting household incomes; supporting workers and small-to-medium-sized enterprises; rebuilding the welfare state with a focus on healthcare and education; and transforming the country’s productive model through a fair redistribution of wealth.
