Coalition government can be built around SYRIZA, says opposition chief
A progressive coalition centered on SYRIZA – provided it comes first in the election – will provide stability for a full four-year term, the leader of the main opposition, Alexis Tsipras said on Monday.
Speaking at the two-day congress of the Institute of Alternative Policies (ENA), the leftist leader added that a coalition government around incumbent New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis would not be viable because of the need for consensus on key policy targets.
“What kind of program agreement can be achieved by a party that forms the core of the neoliberal point of view, with parties that call themselves progressive?” Tsipras said, adding that he believes his party could prevail in the first round of voting under the simple representational system.
Asked to comment on the stance of PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL), he said the priority was to discuss policies rather than what individual could lead a coalition government.
Referring to the socialist party’s Nikos Androulakis – who has said that he will not back a coalition government headed either by Tsipras or Mitsotakis as its head – Tsipras said that “Mr Mitsotakis is a problem in himself, but the greatest problem for Greece is his policy – of privatizations, direct contract allocation, and undermining of the social state. A progressive government will need to change that policy,” he added.
