Tsipras open to talks with Europeans
Leftist leader Alexis Tsipras told an audience in Berlin on Tuesday that his SYRIZA party has no intention of taking Greece out of the euro and would be prepared to negotiate with the eurozone if it is in government following the June 17 elections.
Tsipras was in Berlin 24 hours after talks with leftist politicians in Paris. In Germany, he met with representatives of the Green Party and the leftists of Die Linke and attempted to assuage fears that his party might trigger a eurozone breakup.
?Our proposal is one of salvation,? he said. Tsipras added that he was prepared to ?discuss on a European level possible European solutions to the debt problem.?
?We will step forward with positions and proposals, we will listen,? said the SYRIZA leader, who insisted he wants to keep Greece in the euro. ?The destruction of the eurozone is not a natural phenomenon but a result of political choices,? he added. ?We must not be led to catastrophe as a result of stubbornness or some kind of mistake.?
Tsipras also met with the chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Sigmar Gabriel, who left the SYRIZA chief in no doubt about his duties should he win the June 17 poll. ?Whatever government Greece has next, it will have to recognize that what has been agreed will have to be implemented,? said Gabriel. ?Nobody can expect that Germany and other eurozone countries will meet their financial commitments if the Greek government is not willing to meet its own.?
SYRIZA on Tuesday submitted an application to the Supreme Court to be recognized as a party rather than a coalition. This would allow it to gain the 50 bonus parliamentary seats on offer to the party that wins the next elections. From now on, the party will be known as SYRIZA Unifying Social Front.
