Exit from euro not an option, Tsipras says

Greece's exit from the euro is not an option for Syriza, party leader Alexis Tsipras said in an interview with Kathimerini newspaper appearing on Sunday, accusing his political opponents of danger-mongering, while adding that the first action of a Syriza government will be to annul the Memorandum.

Tsipras attributed the big rise in Syriza's popularity to the mistakes of his opponents, accusing New Democracy (ND) and Pasok of initially supporting the Memorandum that leads to disaster and then of leading the country to repeat elections although they could have formed a coalition government after the inconclusive May 6 elections.

The Syriza leader said that if he forms a government after the June 17 repeat elections, he will repeal the Memorandum through appropriate legislation.

He also said that an exit from the euro was not a choice of his, and accused his political opponents of danger-mongering.

"As for an exit from the euro, it is being put forward as a 'red line' in a very hypocritical and self-serving way that infers that if we want to stay in the euro we have no other choice than to materialise the Memorandum," he said.

Campaign rally in Agrinio

Addressing a campaign rally in Agrinio on Saturday night, Tsipras made an overture to the voters of the other political parties.

He asked voters to put their trust in Syriza, without bias and regardless of where they cast their vote in the inconclusive May 6 elections.

Tsipras said that the hour of a Left government in Greece was approaching, and that "just one small step separates the dream from the reality", adding that this step will be taken on June 17 when the people give Syriza a clear and strong mandate of power, democracy, dignity and hope, for the immediately annulment of the Memorandum and renegotiation of the adverse conditions of the loan agreement.

In that respect, he described the upcoming elections as a referendum against the Memorandum.

In a scathing attack against Pasok and New Democracy, Tsipras said that the two-party system was waging a final, desperate "battle of the rearguard", and was a "world that is leaving, a closed system of power that organised the rotting, dependent, corrupt and disreputable political establishment of the two-party system of ND and Pasok".

"ND and Pasok were on the way out after having looted the country, because they attempted to surrender the people and the country, chained hand and foot, to the lenders, because they represent and symbolize a morally and politically demerited model of governance", Tsipras added.

Source: AMNA