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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.

You were one of the few commentators who claimed since this government had assumed power that it did not want to conclude an agreement with creditors. How did you predict that?

I said what I saw. These people suffer from obsession. They are unable in the full meaning of the word and have no idea of what is happening outside their microcosm. They thought they would blackmail the whole world, and that Greece could meet its requirements on its own, relying on its own production. And they persuaded the people with these "heroic" scenarios.

But you should know that in Greece we are not aware of our history. All the achievements of the modern Greek state are due to the help of the Western allies. And if, at some point, we attained economic prosperity and democracy that was functioning sufficiently well, it was precisely because we were part of the West. In all other cases in which we did the opposite, Greece was struck by catastrophes, followed by destroyed human lives and human suffering.

Once again, those brainless and stupid people who are unaware of history are aiming to do the same, to blame everything on the "foreigners" and to satisfy their own obsession. I think that no other state in the West had a similar government. This is a circus of people who live in their own world and who have lost touch with reality. Being familiar with the people in question, I knew from the beginning that they wanted to satisfy their obsession and coffee-drinking Marxism that they had preached all their lives. I was sure that they did not want to reach an agreement and could not work for it.

Now that we have come to the stage of the wrath of citizens, I count neither on honesty nor on their insight. I set my hopes only on the instinct of self-preservation that all cheaters have. To understand that without an agreement, on Monday they would not be able to pay the advance of civil servants, they would be no longer able to pay pensions and deal with the wrath of the people who would understand that they had been deceived. I hope that the fear for their own skin, I am saying it directly, would force them to sign some agreement. If they fail to sign it, it will be a bad moment for the country and very soon, they will withdraw from power, chased away by the people. Then, someone should be found to restore this country from its ruined remnants.

Currently, people cannot imagine the size of the catastrophe that will follow. We lived well for many years. You see that 85% of young people supported the negative vote. They cannot imagine that without agreement, they will have to irrevocably part with smartphones, tablets, jokes and coffee drinking at restaurants and that they will be unable to go to any European country. They have not been through anything like that, it is very far from their experience. They are making their revolution and I do not blame them for that, they are young. But they really cannot realize that we will rely on the mercy of the outside world in the form of humanitarian aid in order to have access to food, medicines and fuel. They just do not think about it. However, when this happens, they will be the first to be angry. Those of us who are composed will come to aid and save this government from being lynched, because if it continues in this way, people will chase it to burn it.

Do you see a ray of hope among the opposition?

The meeting of political leaders two days ago was tragic. Even before its beginning, I commented that it would be a huge mistake on their part to give Alexis Tsipras the right to go to Europe and claim he had the consent of the opposition. They should have made him face his responsibilities. They should have submitted their proposals and told him that if he wanted to pursue a policy, a product of his own inspiration, he alone would be responsible for its consequences. Moreover, they should have insisted on him finally clarifying what exactly this policy was because nobody had presented it so far. Therefore, party leaders should have insisted on him presenting it and in the case of a refusal, they should have informed the public that the prime minister did not want to say what he intended to do, therefore, they could not come to terms with him.

However, Mr. Theodorakis, who was quite wrong during Monday's meeting, yesterday openly declared that the government actions were treason. That is correct and I congratulate him for that.

Today we have reactions on the part of New Democracy and PASOK. This is good. Perhaps it is late for them but better late than never.

However, the opposition is not enough. Actually, this is the basis of the voting in the referendum, although people are not satisfied with Mr. Tsipras. They realize that something is wrong but do not want the former rulers to return to power. Mr. Samaras was late in understanding this and in resigning. Generally, I can say that the opposition, the pro-European parties in particular, do not understand that they cannot sit and wait for the failure of the government to take power afterwards. The days of the country are over. We are already counting the hours until the catastrophe. I hope at least the shock will wake us up and we will not have to experience other misfortunes to become reasonable. We have experienced enough mishaps. Nevertheless, I cannot exclude the possibility of them happening again. I just hope it will not be necessary.