Alexis Tsipras on Austrian Public Broadcaster ORF - Inside.BRUSSEL

Published on Friday, 11 April 2014 15:32

International journalists and leading candidates for the European Parliament election discuss their vision for Europe and their proposals to achieve their goals. 

Moderator:  Raimund Löw, ORF (Austrian Public Broadcaster) - Brussels correspondent      

Ska Keller (candidate of the Greens) 
Alexis Tsipras (candidate of the Left) 
Bojan Pancevski (Sunday Times, London) 
Cerstin Gammelin (Süddeutsche Zeitung) 
Giovanni del Re (Avvenire, Rome) 
Philipp Hacker (Kurier)

Alexis Tsipras’ Interview on ORF

The only way out for the European South is growth - not austerity policies

The economic policies that were applied in Greece and the European South did not serve to combat the debt crisis but to impose an austerity policy, dismantle labor relations so as to create a zone of cheap labor, and privatize and sell off the public assets. Europe economy will not become more competitive through the reduction of labor costs. The answer for Europe is not to slash wages to match the Chinese economy.

The fact that the target was the imposition of austerity and not the resolution of the debt crisis can be easily seen in the case of Greece’s return to the financial markets. At the time of the first Memorandum, Greek debt was 120% of GDP—a number considered too prohibitive to allow Greece to borrow money. Now the debt is 175% and Greece has returned to the markets, against logic.

Common sense dictates that the only solution for Greece and the European South is growth, in order to be able to pay their debts and stop burdening the more powerful European countries – and their citizens – with more and more bail-out debts.

Alexis Tsipras also pointed out:

• On a political level, it is crucial that national sovereignty is not lost and powers are not taken over by supranational organizations, which will not be accountable to citizens. We must make Europe more democratic and work toward increasing social cohesion so as to face our common European future with more optimism.
• We do not want to abolish the European Council but to transfer crucial decision-making powers to the European Parliament. The Left does not want to cancel Europe but rather to go return to the values on which Europe was founded: solidarity, social cohesion, and democracy.
• It is not only our European partners who are responsible for our problems. It is obvious that the Greek government is also responsible for the mismanagement of Greece. The medicine that was prescribed for Greece, though, made the situation even worse. The various Greek governments have never attempted to negotiate so as to curry favor with those in powerful positions, including Mrs. Merkel.
• Stopping austerity means stopping wage and pension cuts because there are people who earn so little that whatever extra money they are given will be spent and not saved. This would boost the economy and lead to growth, as it happened in the USA after the Great Depression of 1929. The opposite was done in Weimar, with well-known disastrous results.
• The solution we propose involves the write-off of a large part of the debt, moratorium on payments, and a growth clause. This was the solution given to Germany after the Second World War by the London Debt Agreement in 1953 and created the conditions that led to its economic miracle.
• Of course, it is also necessary to proceed to structural reforms that will lead to a less bureaucratic, less wasteful state that will serve the citizens. However, austerity policies have done exactly the opposite: cuts were made without evaluation or a structured method to make the state more efficient. This cannot happen through the elimination of absolutely necessary work positions in the public sector. This only means fewer hospitals, fewer schools, less benefits.
• The developments in Ukraine could signal a new dangerous divide in the heart of Europe. The EU bears a degree of responsibility for tolerating certain violations of Ukraine’s constitutional framework. That said, any breach of the international law principles is unacceptable. We should prevent the rekindling of tension and conflict. The only way out is through dialogue – not sanctions, which have proven ineffective.
• Mrs. Merkel visited Athens to show here support for the Samaras government ahead of the forthcoming elections.  Certainly no European country would welcome such interference in its politics. Her supposed “presents” cannot possibly cure the Greek economy, which would need a European public investment plan for development, and not a few million euros just before election time.