January 2015 Greek government formation

Last updated

Following the January 2015 Greek election, the leader of the largest party SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, was charged with forming a coalition government.

Contents

Process

DIMAR MP and member of the central committee of DIMAR, Spyros Lykoudis, stated his preference for a broader SYRIZA-DIMAR-PASOK coalition. [1]

Panos Kammenos, leader of Independent Greeks (ANEL) stated he favored a broad alliance of anti-bailout parties, excluding Golden Dawn. [2] Following the rumors of a third bailout, Kammenos attempted to convince maverick ND and PASOK MPs to bring down the government. [2]

Dimitris Koutsoumpas, leader of the Communist Party (KKE), reiterated the party's stance against cooperation with other parties, stating alliances or partnerships must be done in terms of social movements, "not from the top down, where leaders sit down and find, one, two, three things they agree on and sign a program. Those alliances have been shown to have many bad side effects for the labour movement." [3] [4]

Bloomberg Businessweek suggested that SYRIZA's choice for coalition partner would reveal its intentions toward negotiations with the Troika. If SYRIZA forms the government with The River, then it could "signal that Tsipras wants to avoid a showdown with the troika lenders" as [To Potami leader Stavros] "Theodorakis strongly opposes such a confrontation and says he wouldn't partner with Syriza unless Tsipras promised to keep Greece in the euro currency". [5] If SYRIZA partners with Independent Greeks, it shows a desire to fight with the Troika, given the parties shared anti-austerity ideology. [5] However, that is the only policy that the two parties share.

Shortly after the election, Stavros Theodorakis, leader of The River, was expected to meet with Alexis Tsipras in the next 48 hours. [6] However, on 26 January 2015, Tsipras and Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos surprisingly agreed to form an "anti-austerity coalition". Yanis Varoufakis, expected to be appointed Minister of Finance, said they would "come to Frankfurt and Berlin and Brussels with [...] a plan to minimise the cost of that Greek debacle to the average German. We must be very careful not to toy with fast or loose talk of Grexit. Grexit is not on the cards." [7]

Government formation agreement

As of 26 January, the written government formation agreement between ANEL and Syriza - outlining policies and the working program of the government - was yet to be announced. The list below feature the most important pledges made by Syriza in its election campaign, as it is expected all of them will be adopted without any change by the government agreement:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syriza</span> Greek political party

The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance, best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA, is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Greece. It was founded in 2004 as a political coalition of left-wing and radical left parties, and registered as a political party in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexis Tsipras</span> Prime Minister of Greece (2015; 2015–2019)

Alexis Tsipras is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Left (Greece)</span> Greek political party

Democratic Left was a social-democratic political party in Greece. Formed as a split from Synaspismós, DIMAR was a minor party supporting the Samaras cabinet from 21 June 2012 to 21 June 2013. After being a member of the Democratic Alignment (DISI) and the Movement for Change (KINAL), it affiliated to Syriza in 2019. The party was dissolved in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yanis Varoufakis</span> Greek economist and politician

Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founded in 2016. Previously, he was a member of Syriza and was Greece's Minister of Finance between January 2015 and July 2015, negotiating on behalf of the Greek government during the 2009-2018 Greek government-debt crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May 2012 Greek legislative election</span>

Legislative elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 6 May 2012 to elect all 300 members to the Hellenic Parliament. It was scheduled to be held in late 2013, four years after the previous election; however, an early election was stipulated in the coalition agreement of November 2011 which formed the Papademos Cabinet. The coalition comprised both of Greece's traditional major political parties, PASOK on the left and New Democracy (ND) on the right, as well as the right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS). The aim of the coalition was to relieve the Greek government-debt crisis by ratifying and implementing decisions taken with other Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a month earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent Greeks</span> Political party in Greece

The Independent Greeks – National Patriotic Alliance was a national conservative political party in Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">June 2012 Greek legislative election</span>

Legislative elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 17 June 2012, to elect all 300 members to the Hellenic Parliament in accordance with the constitution, after all attempts to form a new government failed following the May elections. If all attempts to form a new government fail, the constitution directs the president to dissolve a newly elected parliament, and then to call for new parliamentary elections within 30 days of the dissolution. The president announced at 16 May the date for the new election, and signed the formal decree to dissolve the parliament and call for the election at 19 May.

The Greek government formation of May 2012 was a series of failed attempts to form a new government after the legislative election in May 2012 by the three largest parties: New Democracy (centre-right), Coalition of the Radical Left and Panhellenic Socialist Movement, respectively, and then followed by the President of Greece. After the negotiations led by the president had failed on 15 May, a temporary caretaker cabinet under Council of State president Panagiotis Pikrammenos was appointed on 16 May, and a new election was set for 17 June.

A Greek withdrawal from the eurozone was a hypothetical scenario, debated mostly in the early to mid 2010s, under which Greece would withdraw from the Eurozone to deal with the Greek government-debt crisis of the time. This conjecture was given the nickname "Grexit", a portmanteau combining the English words 'Greek' and 'exit', and which has been expressed in Greek as ελλέξοδος. The term "Graccident" was coined for the case that Greece exited the EU and the euro unintentionally. These terms first came into use in 2012 and have been revitalised at each of the bailouts made available to Greece after that.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">January 2015 Greek legislative election</span>

Legislative elections were held in Greece on Sunday 25 January 2015 to elect all 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament in accordance with the constitution. The election was held earlier than scheduled due to the failure of the Greek parliament to elect a new president on 29 December 2014.

European Parliament elections were held in Greece on 25 May 2014 to elect the 21 Greek members of the European Parliament. The number of seats allocated to Greece declined from 22 to 21, as a result of the 2013 reapportionment of seats in the European Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greek government-debt crisis timeline</span>

The Greek government-debt crisis began in 2009 and, as of November 2017, was still ongoing. During this period, many changes had occurred in Greece. The income of many Greeks has declined, levels of unemployment have increased, elections and resignations of politicians have altered the country's political landscape radically, the Greek parliament has passed many austerity bills, and protests have become common sights throughout the country.

The Third Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece, usually referred to as the third bailout package or the third memorandum, is a memorandum of understanding on financial assistance to the Hellenic Republic in order to cope with the Greek government-debt crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras</span> Greeces Syriza party government (2015)

Following his victory in legislative elections held on 25 January 2015, the newly elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appointed a new cabinet to succeed the cabinet of Antonis Samaras, his predecessor. A significant reshuffle took place on 17 July 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euclid Tsakalotos</span> Greek economist and politician

Euclid Stefanou Tsakalotos is a Greek economist and politician who was Minister of Finance of Greece from 2015 to 2019. He was also a member of the Central Committee of Syriza and has represented Athens B in the Hellenic Parliament since May 2012. He left Syriza in November 2023 and on 5 December 2023 he became founding member of New Left (Greece) parliamentary group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Greek bailout referendum</span>

A referendum to decide whether Greece should accept the bailout conditions in the country's government-debt crisis proposed jointly by the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) on 25 June 2015 took place on 5 July 2015. The referendum was announced by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the early morning of 27 June 2015 and ratified the following day by the Parliament and the President. It was the first referendum to be held since the republic referendum of 1974 and the only one in modern Greek history not to concern the form of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras</span>

The Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras was sworn in on 23 September 2015, following the Greek legislative election in September 2015. Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece on 21 September, having agreed to re-form the coalition with Panos Kammenos and the Independent Greeks.

Dimitris Kammenos is a Greek politician who served for less than one day as Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks in the Second Tsipras Cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Course of Freedom</span> Political party in Greece

Course of Freedom is a Greek anti-establishment political party founded on 19 April 2016, by former President of the Hellenic Parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou.

<i>Adults in the Room</i> 2019 film by Costa-Gavras

Adults in the Room is a 2019 French-Greek political film directed by Costa-Gavras. It is based on the book Adults in the Room: My Battle with Europe's Deep Establishment by Yanis Varoufakis about the 2015 Greek bailout. It is Gavras' first feature film that was shot in Greece.

References

  1. "PASOK-DIMAR-SYRIZA coalition, suggests Spyros Lykoudis (in Greek)". iefimerida. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Kammenos urges ND, PASOK MPs to overthrow government". Kathimerini . 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  3. "Koutsoumpas: Proposals for alliances may be directed to the people of the KKE (in Greek)". To Vima. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  4. "Koutsoumpas: "No" to cooperation at summit (in Greek)". nooz.gr. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  5. 1 2 Matlack, Carol (23 January 2015). "Everybody Expects Syriza to Win. Then What?". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  6. "Greek Elections 2015 Results". Kathimerini. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  7. Tugwell, Paul; Chrepatitle, Eleni (26 January 2015). "Tsipras forges anti-austerity coalition in challenge to EU". Kathimerini . Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  8. "Alexis Tsipras: Why the forces of democracy in Europe must end austerity". The Irish Times. 23 January 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Greek Elections 2015 - LIVE". Kathimerini. 23 January 2015.
  10. "Samaras says Draghi limits for Greek eligibility prove ND policies are correct". Kathimerini. 22 January 2015.
  11. "Tsipras aims for deal with lenders by this summer". Kathimerini. 23 January 2015.
  12. "Tsipras says new government would have until July to negotiate with creditors". Kathimerini. Reuters. 23 January 2015.
  13. "Greek parties embark on election amid debate on euro". Kathimerini. Bloomberg. 5 January 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Greece election: Syriza's Yanis Varoufakis". BBC Radio 4. 26 January 2015.
  15. "'We are going to destroy the Greek oligarchy system' (video clip)". Channel 4. 23 January 2015.
  16. "SYRIZA aims for landmark election win". Kathimerini. Reuters. 25 January 2015.
  17. "Clock ticks for Greece as election campaign enters climax". Kathimerini. Bloomberg. 23 January 2015.
  18. "Tsipras forms government, plans new legislation". Kathimerini. 26 January 2015.