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Anastasia Balezdrova

Two days before the deadline for Greece to submit to creditors its agreement proposals the events in Athens are rapidly developing.

In his speech before the parliamentary group of New Democracy, new transitional party leader Vangelis Meimarakis has said that the Prime Minister does not enjoy his confidence. He has warned that he will not participate in another meeting of political leaders, if the Prime Minister does not explain his intentions at a parliamentary meeting prior to it. Sources claim that New Democracy is discussing how to eliminate the probability of the government provoking Greece’s exit from the euro zone even through early elections.

Lawyer and former president of the liberal Drassi party Antypas Karipoglou explained for GRReporter how the opposition could counteract the risk of Grexit, why the government had been unable to agree with creditors for six months already and how it managed to win last Sunday’s referendum.

Mr. Karipoglou, what actions could be taken at the political level to avoid Grexit?

Currently, all actions at the political level are in the hands of the government. No one else could pressure it to do something.

Moreover, what actions could be taken for it to fall?

Firstly, it must want to leave. Formally, there is the possibility of submitting a no confidence vote but it has no majority in parliament. The government has a majority for the time being. The second option is for the President to resign.

Do you think this is likely to happen?

I do not know what his intentions could be. I believe that if things came to a complete impasse it would be an option.

When would this moment come? The deadlines set by creditors are clear.

Yes, but the resignation of the President would not change that. Even if he resigned today, it would take a month to dismiss parliament. All procedures for the election of a new president should be implemented and prove to be unsuccessful. Within that month, the government and parliament would function normally.

The only significant action is for the political staff and citizens, through peaceful demonstrations, to pressure the government to submit a proposal to creditors and to conclude an agreement with them so that the issue of Greece's exit from the European Union is not tabled on Sunday, when the summit of member states leaders is due to take place.

The other option is for the government to fail to reach an agreement. Greece's exit would not happen within an hour. Such a procedure would last several months, for both legal and practical reasons. In this case, all pro-European forces in the country would have to decide how to respond. Then the position of the President would become clear as well as the actual will of Greek citizens. I believe that they want to stay in Europe and the euro but it is only clear from the polls for the time being.

A referendum was held on Sunday, which for me is one of the biggest frauds in Greece’s modern political history. Mr. Tsipras unscrupulously lied to the people. They did not vote in favour of Greece's exit from the European Union. On the other hand, we could refer to it because in fact they gave him carte blanche, telling him to negotiate and not to take severe budgetary measures.

However, he did not explain to them that if these measures were not taken, Greece would probably end up outside the European Union. The pro-European forces tried to tell them but failed to convince them. People believed that Alexis Tsipras would go to Brussels to strike a better deal.

Therefore, now I do not know if he wants to strike such a deal, whether he is able to do so, if he has the support of the party for this and ultimately whether voters want Greece to stay in Europe. In a democracy, polls are not enough to assert such a thing.

Do you think the government would still attempt to conclude an agreement with creditors?

I consider this a possibility. However, I think it would most likely fail. Today I followed the speech of the Prime Minister in the European Parliament and being a Greek, I was ashamed of it. This was an opportunity for him to address the representatives of all European nations but he chose to deliver them a speech addressed to his party audience that consists of fanatics, anti-Europeans and people who want Greece to leave the European Union.

I was worried when I heard the democratic leaders of the parliamentary groups in the European Parliament, among which I do not include Marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage who told him, "Bravo, Alexis! Take your country outside the euro zone", speaking of the Greek government in such a disparaging manner. Weber and Pittella, who was a little more polite, and even the Green party, told him that he was wrong.

I really do not understand what exactly and whether actually Mr. Tsipras has something in mind. And if the only thing that interests him is just to be prime minister. Behind him, however, he has a party with a very strong group of people who want to introduce a "people's republic" in Greece.

Let us put this straight. In Greece, the issue of non-compliance with democratic rules is now very serious. Democracy itself is jeopardized here, not just the euro or Greece’s staying in Europe. Scenarios for closing TVs and disciplinary persecution of journalists could be heard as well. This cannot continue for a long time and we cannot be just observers.