Ruling SYRIZA party’s apparent “soul searching” vis-à-vis the dilemma of “compromise for cash” or “no retreat” in the face of creditors’ conditions was played out at a marathon session of the radical leftist party’s central committee on Sunday.
A proposal, in fact, by the far-left and virulently anti-capitalist “Left Platform” to seek out “alternative financing” and ignore a possible “rift” with creditors failed to win approval, losing out by 95 votes to 75 in a ballot amongst central committee members. The result was viewed as a victory for PM Alexis Tsipras, albeit not with an overwhelming tally.
Besides a high-profile address by Tsipras, the unofficial head of the internal opposition, minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, emphasized that “…where does it say that it’s terrorism to not pay the next (IMF) instalment?” Another top minister, Nikos Voutsis, said there’s no money in the till to pay a June 5 instalment to the IMF. In the end, the Left Platform’s statement referred to “propaganda that a catastrophe arises about from a payment stop”.
Bluff or not bluff, Lafazanis’ communist-oriented wing nevertheless again tabled its position of “clashing” with what it calls the “insulting demands of partners”, calling on the “less radical” remainder of the Greek government not to shudder from a “rift” with partners-cum creditors. Without mincing ts words, SYRIZA’s far-left wing called for a halt to payments towards creditors, “even if this leads to an exit from the euro zone”.
Lafazanis also expressed … disbelief over the fact that the SYRIZA government is close to an agreement with institutional creditors, asking “what have we agreed to?” True to his extremist wing’s ideology, he again opposed privatizations of ports, rail and airports.