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Is SYRIZA ridiculing us all?

24 July 2015 / 12:07:35  GRReporter
1909 reads

Party battles burst forth in SYRIZA this week again. 31 MPs, including president of parliament Zoe Konstantopoulou voted against the second package but it was no problem for the cabinet. Nevertheless the measures have been adopted and the negotiations on the third rescue programme are about to start, thanks to the positive vote of the pro-European opposition.

Contrary to expectations, the "rebellion" of Konstantopoulou did not provoke the government to submit a no confidence vote against her on Wednesday. Her yesterday’s meeting with Alexis Tsipras ended with loud statements about SYRIZA’s unity whereas the office did not even issue an official statement on its contents.

The feeling that "dogs are barking but the caravan is moving on" is becoming increasingly apparent each passing day. Unofficially, government sources indicate that Alexis Tsipras will settle scores with the hardliners in his party during the early elections he is planning to convene in September. His previous actions, however, are indicative of his reluctance to go on a direct collision course with them.

Journalist Dimitris Papaconstantinou describes the stalemate of Greece in his analysis in the Greek economic website capital.gr, which GRReporter presents to its readers:

What elections? What discord? What if just one third of the government is reacting? What is happening to the "first leftist government" is unprecedented in the political history of Greece. They are grasping at the ministerial posts not wanting to leave them in any way...

Of course, to be honest, there is no one who wants to fight for them and occupy them... On the other hand, things look pretty strange. People hear the Prime Minister saying that he does not intend to leave office voluntarily. They see Varoufakis discrediting Mr. Tsipras and the agreement with creditors in statements to all media on the planet and then giving his voice in support of the bills, to give the government...time.

The left wing voted against the bills, stating it did not want to cause split in SYRIZA. Exactly how are they expressing their support, remaining part of the government majority? If you do not agree with the agreement, you do not agree with the overall policy that Mr. Tsipras will have to implement. If you disagree, you leave. However, the parliamentary posts seem to be no less "sweet". What about Independent Greeks? The situation is the same if not worse ... They are about to become ministers, one and all, only to stop the internal grumbling...

Honestly, my memory may deceive me, but I do not remember any other period over the past 40 years, similar to the one we are now living in. With a Prime Minister who is governing together with 35-40 "protesters" who voted against the main aspects of his policy. Nevertheless, they are not overthrowing the government, allowing it to enact the measures that they did not support with their votes...regardless of the fact that the ideological and political divide between them is already apparent. And the Prime Minister is not even interested in that, since he is able to push the bills through the opposition.

There has never been a situation in which the opposition supports the government and part of its majority opposes its policies. So I wonder...have we come to a political morality of this kind? I do not mean the opposition that is forced to support the government in order to avoid the total catastrophe of the country. I am talking about the participants in the government. Mr. Lafazanis and the far left groups in SYRIZA are "raging" at Mr. Tsiparas and the leading group, but actually in an affected manner. What does it matter that they are not voting in favour of the measures? What does it matter that they are shouting? All their actions are jeopardy to nothing since the opposition supports the bills. The same is true for Zoe (Konstantopoulou, president of parliament). It is all just words and words, with no meaning. One show after another, but in fact ... the most important thing is to preserve the unity in SYRIZA ...

So I begin to wonder. Are siryzanians ridiculing us all? Have they found a code to reduce tensions and trigger an "exhaust valve"? Thus, all measures are passing in parliament, reactions are expressed and there is no problem, and they remain in the seats of power.

Tags: PoliticsSYRIZAAlexis TsiprasHardlinersPro-European opposition
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