by Maria Petrakis
July 27, 2015 — 12:00 AM EEST
Bloomberg
His party
is split, government undermined and the economy lies in tatters. Yet in the
rubble of Greece
In the six
months since he became prime minister, Tsipras breezed past challengers at
home, new and old, as he followed an election victory with backing for his
anti-bailout message in a referendum. After yielding to his European peers, next
month he may be signing a third financial rescue that he opposed, while capital
controls keeping money in Greece
The paradox
reflects how punch-drunk Greece Europe for their financial punishment, or others in his
Coalition of the Radical Left.
“His
rhetoric of defiance, resistance and regaining sovereignty flies well with
Greek public opinion,” said Wolfango Piccoli, managing director of consulting
company Teneo Intelligence in London
A poll by
Kapa Research published on July 14 showed 51.5 percent of Greeks backed the new
terms Tsipras agreed to in return for staying in the euro.
The blame
for the pension cuts and higher taxes rested with the Europeans, 49 percent
said, while 68 percent said Tsipras should lead the country.
Unruly
Party
For now, he
has to deal with the party that he brought to power. Tsipras, who turns 41 this
week, purged his government of dissenters after bringing home the deal that
promised the exact opposite of what he pledged to voters in January.
Even as he
clawed back some supporters in last week’s parliament vote, Syriza officials
publicly worried about the chasm growing between dissident leftists and the
more pragmatic group Tsipras leads, fearing a breakup of the party.
“The
question is whether Tsipras will remain the leader of Syriza or he will form
his own party with those who support him in Syriza,” said George Tzogopoulos, a
research fellow at the Athens-based Hellenic Foundation for European &
Foreign Policy. “It is probably easier for him to purge Syriza.”
For now,
the focus is on filling in the outlines of the deal agreed with creditors on
July 13. Tsipras could then move to consolidate his position by holding
elections.
Unchallenged
He has
little opposition. Antonis Samaras, his predecessor and arch-rival, quit as
leader of the next-biggest party, New Democracy, on the night of the July 5
referendum after Greeks emphatically backed Tsipras in rejecting more
austerity. Samaras’s replacement is temporary and the party has backed the bailout
Tsipras has delivered to keep Greece
Yanis
Varoufakis, the former finance minister and face of successive failures to
reach an accord with the euro region, garnered the most votes of any party
candidate in the Jan. 25 election. He now has a popularity rating of 28
percent, compared with 59 percent for Tsipras in the Kapa poll.
Comrades
causing Tsipras headaches, such as former Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafanzanis
and Speaker of Parliament Zoe Konstantopoulou, both polled lower than Varoufakis.
“It is more
and more a Tsipras government and party,” said Piccoli. “His U-turn has been
justified with a narrative that argues that there was no other option.”
Drachma
People
Political
brinkmanship has been the bane of getting Greece
Then-opposition
leader Samaras refused to support the first bailout and kept back support for a
second rescue, prompting Prime Minister George Papandreou to propose a
referendum that nearly tipped the country out of the euro and back to the old
currency now feared by so many Greeks, the drachma. The idea was ultimately
shelved and cost Papandreou his job.
The
difference is that the past month has provided a sudden reality check for
everyone -- Greeks, the rest of Europe, the party faithful in Syriza -- that
gives Tsipras a chance to consolidate power, said Tzogopoulos.
“They know
now there is no alternative,” he said. “Politicians who even today reject the
bailout will be associated with the drachma.”
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