SYRIZA: The fear of parochialism and an ‘apology’ from Al. Tsipras

By Niki Zorba

Parochology, bidding, money trees, classifications for everyone, regulations that will shake the economy in the air and in the background … building credibility (It was requested by a few at the SYRIZA conference, mainly by Alexis Tsipras).

For all the above, political opponents of SYRIZA (mainly the government) accuse the party of the official opposition, with Alexis Tsipras balancing on a tightrope:

An appropriate dose of proposals is needed to show a “difference” with the government’s plan – no more so as not to dispel any chances of the party becoming convincing but no less so as not to prevent the government from responding positively to the demands.α ( Already yesterday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced increase in the minimum wage by 7.5%, followed by energy).

A difficult equation, especially at a time when SYRIZA is claiming to re-govern, but without showing – at least in opinion polls – such acceptance as to threaten – for the time being – the Government’s lead in the elections. Koumoundourou, of course, has a different reading of the polling and political reality, evaluating the government damage to the polls and the closing of the gap as an irreversible course of SYRIZA in power.

The “manageable” cost

Τhe spoke at the third SYRIZA conference, he himself said Alexis Tsipras yesterday in his first interview after the conference (Open), two or three times and in the style of “it does not even make sense to discuss it”: SYRIZA has been judged to be the first in the polls of simple analog, whenever they take place.

Repeatedly, however, both yesterday in his interview and in his concluding speech at the SYRIZA conferencemade a detailed and extensive report on his party’s proposals and why “they do not constitute parochialism”.

The slogan he uses to the masses is: “We do not want money trees, we want to prune the money trees”, meaning the scandal (and) the electricity prices. For the most … “meticulous”, who read behind the pre-election slogans, the president of SYRIZA, uses two arguments: 1. Most of our proposals have no budgetary cost – and those that do are calculated and “manageable” 2. We have applied them in the past – either during or after the exit from the memoranda, we saw that they work.

It is obvious the Mr Tsipras’ “apologetic” attitude – even defensive – to the allegations of conciliation, already from his speech at the conference, where he said, among other things:

-So all of them hurried, with the PTH itself and the government representative first to characterize our commitments, the 5 + 1 points for the society and the people to breathe, as a so-called parochialism, as a so-called money trees.
Who; Those who water the stealth trees of scandal every day?

-Is it a pledge to commit that you will implement all the tools that the European Commission itself proposes in its toolbox, that you will adopt practices that other European countries already apply? Is this parochialism?

-None of what we committed is conciliation.
None of what we have committed is outside our policy and strategy. None of this is impossible, unrealistic, impossible.

If there is one thing that he also conveys as a message – regardless of which audience he is addressing, it is the an indisputable need to respect budgetary limits and margins.