Alexis Tsipras, the man who once put the European Union in check, has abandoned the Syriza ship that led the most turbulent years of the Greek crisis and with which he has planted opposition in recent years to the turn to the right for which citizens have chosen at the polls.
“There are certain moments when you have to make critical decisions. Now I have the experience not to make decisions on the spur of the moment. To decide calmly. And that’s what I did for 24 hours. Because I know very well that my decisions are too affect other people. In my statement on election night I said that Syriza has already closed a great historical cycle that we must value with pride and we must open a next cycle”, said the leader of the left formation when announcing his resignation in a televised speech.
His resignation was something that was presupposed after three consecutive electoral failures: in 2019, when the conservative Kyriakos Misotakis wrested power from him by an absolute majority; and in the recent double electoral test of May and June in which the vote gap with New Democracy was already insurmountable.
“At the age of 34, I took charge of a small left-wing party, the first in Europe to govern in incredibly difficult circumstances, with a society in shambles and a bankrupt economy. I was lucky to be the country’s first left-wing prime minister in history“, recalled Tsipras during his farewell and announced that he will not be a candidate for the Presidency of the party again – which is now beginning “a process of profound renewal” – but that he will be “present before, during and after”.
In the last two campaigns, Tsipras has opted for a strategy of direct attack on Mitsotakis, whom he has accused of wanting to turn his government into a “regime”. On the contrary, the prime minister, who revalidated his absolute majority last Sunday, has focused his speech on a positive agenda for the future of Greece, with emphasis placed on the economy and on a package of crucial reforms in the public administration to achieve “an effective State in a strong country”.
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