Tsipras says PASOK must choose its side

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Greek Left Alliance (ELAS), gave an interview on the morning of Thursday 8 October to Sotiris Xenakis and Vasilis Skouris on the Parapolitika radio programme "Facing the Microphones". He said PASOK's existential problem is that it borders both ELAS and New Democracy, and added:

“It is in between, and it has to decide with whom it will go and whom it will leave behind.”

The remarks followed an earlier attack by PASOK in the week, when party leader Nikos Androulakis described ELAS as a "one man show" party. PASOK replied the same day through its statement from the party headquarters on Charilaou Trikoupi street, accusing Tsipras of sparing Kyriakos Mitsotakis:

“For once again Mr Tsipras left Mr Mitsotakis untouchable and launched a one-front attack on PASOK.”

Dispute over strategy and tone

Tsipras went further in the interview, saying that some PASOK officials are defending a strategy he considers a dead end:

“There are officials within PASOK who are now defending a strategy, in my opinion a dead end, of an almost one-front attack on ELAS, a strategy that only helps Mr Mitsotakis.”

He also said that when PASOK representatives appear in the media, seven out of ten words they say are "Tsipras", while "Mitsotakis" is heard only when they want to say he is as bad as Tsipras. In his view this does not help the progressive camp as a whole.

PASOK's statement answered that as long as Tsipras is occupied with avoiding third place, the party will work for the defeat of New Democracy and political change:

“As long as he is concerned with how he will avoid third place, we will work for the defeat of New Democracy and political change.”

The statement added that the ELAS leader aims to divide the democratic and progressive electorate in order to keep the Mitsotakis system and New Democracy in power, and concluded:

“We will not follow him down this slope.”

Four questions to Tsipras

PASOK set out four questions for the former prime minister. It asked why he agrees with Mitsotakis that the 13th monthly salary and the 13th pension should not return. It asked why he supports speculation by funds while rejecting PASOK's proposal to restore protection of the first home. It asked why he backs the creation of purely private universities and why he opposes taxing the windfall profits of oligopolies. The statement asked him to tell the Greek people openly why he legitimises the one-way policy of Mitsotakis and New Democracy, and closed with this assessment:

“Greece does not need leaderships that have been judged and are interested only in their own personal self-vindication. The country needs a prime minister who guarantees stability. Mr Mitsotakis and Mr Tsipras are factors of instability.”

Kasos cable, the Rubio visit and cost of living

In the same interview Tsipras attacked the government over its handling of the Kasos electricity link between Greece and Cyprus. He said Turkish warships prevent the company that took on the project from laying the cable outside Greek territorial waters, and asked:

“They themselves said 'we retreated at Kasos'. Why did Greece retreat?”

He argued that the cable is a different category from a gas pipeline under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea:

“A cable, I repeat, not a pipeline, needs neither a permit nor notification.”

He also questioned the substance of the visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, contrasting the "beautiful backdrop" of Rubio's speech at the Pnyx with what he called the absence of substantive American support on key Greek issues. Tsipras also ruled out admitting sitting MPs to ELAS.

On cost of living, Tsipras compared rising prices for petrol, heating oil, rents and electricity with the growth of average wages. He cited a petrol price of 1.5 euros during his own premiership. He put the average wage in Greece at 18,000 a year and in Europe at 40,000, framing the comparison as one of purchasing power.