Tsipras Takes On Eurofascists in European Parliament
The European Parliament split between enthusiastic and hysterical reactions to Alexei Tsipras’s speech before the plenary session yesterday. Tsipras stressed that the “no” vote in the referendum was an extraordinary event: “The Greek people made a brave choice, under unprecedented pressures, with the banks being closed, with the majority of the media attempting to terrorize people that a NO vote would lead to a rupture with Europe,”
he said.
“…Nowhere else were these programs so difficult and long-lasting as in Greece. It would not be an exaggeration to say that my country has been transformed into an experimental austerity laboratory for the last five years. But we must all admit that the experiment did not succeed….
“I want to be very clear on this point: the Greek government’s proposals to finance its obligations and restructure its debt are not intended to further burden the European taxpayer. The money given to Greece—let’s be honest—never actually reached the Greek people. It was money given to save the Greek and European banks—but it never went to the Greek people.”
Whereas Tsipras earned support from the UK Independence Party’s Nigel Farage and the French Front National’s Marine Le Pen, and a non-belligerent attitude from the Socialists, conservative and liberal spokesmen were hysterically aggressive.
Former Belgian Premier Guy Verhofstadt, a major actor in the Maidan coup, started to accuse Syriza of being complicit in the clientelistic system of Greek politics. He lectured Tsipras on the reforms he has to carry out, cutting down the public sector and reforming the financial system.
Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party faction, accused Tsipras of “destroying confidence in Europe.” “You are not telling your people the truth. That is not dignified politics. You are surrounding yourself with the wrong friends”
he said referring to the letter Fidel Castro wrote to the Greek Prime Minister. He then lectured Tsipras on the rights of the smaller, poorer countries of the Eurozone who will have to pay for the Greeks’ profligacy. “How can you tell Bulgaria that Greece can’t countenance any further cuts, when in at least five EU countries the standards of living are lower than Greece?”
In his reply, Tsipras addressed Weber directly: “The most important moment of solidarity in modern European history, was in 1953, when your country emerged deeply in debt and looted by two world wars — and in Europe, the European peoples, showed the greatest solidarity at the London Conference in 1953, when they decided to write off 60% of Germany’s debt, as well as growth clauses.”
As for reforms, he countered false accusations that Greece had not presented reforms by saying it in fact presented a 47-page document saying,
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