Tsipras: With 400-euro salaries we will turn into an African country

"Soon they will not only ask for the signatures of the political leaders of all political parties of Greece" said Alexis Tsipras, commenting on the German requirements for additional guarantees that the implementation of the memorandum will proceed strictly regardless of any election outcome.

"They will ask all pensioners to sign a statement of repentance that they agree for their pensions to reach 200 euros," said the president of Synaspismos in his televised interview on the NET morning show.

Journalists asked the SYRIZA PG president what he will do after the elections if the Left becomes the first power and the Europeans refuse to alter the terms of the loan agreement. "We do not expect them to say no to us! We will tell them no! Because this package does not save the Greek citizens, but the bankers. Our great grandchildren will be charged with another 130 billion euros."

Stressing that the exit from the euro was never SYRIZA’s choice, he argued that with each package "the exit from the euro comes closer as an inevitable choice. A country with salaries of 400 euros can not be a country in Europe but in Africa. Greece is moving away from Europe and reaching Libya and Egypt."

"There are politicians and political forces that accept the blackmail because they believe that there are people who reach the polls under blackmail," he said, predicting that before the election Papademos and Venizelos’ dilemma to the citizens will be "do not vote for the Left if you want to save the country. But what can 1 million unemployed fear, what can the people who are considering immigrating fear?"

How would he negotiate with the European partners if the Left were voted for by the people as the first power in the elections? "The first thing we would do would be to say: the people spoke, we can not abolish the European acquis, but will repeal the memorandums and not implement policies that lead to recession. We will tell our lenders they cannot take what we don’t have. Then we will ask them to accept a repayment moratorium, saying that we don’t have anything to give you, so give us the opportunity to be able to get into primary surpluses with another policy mix and begin to repay you."

If the Europeans answer “no” to everything that you say?, reporters asked the president of SYRIZA, causing him to admit that "there is the possibility they might say no and drive the Eurozone into disaster". According to Tsipras, the dilemma is whether Europe will become a continent of solidarity or a continent of misery and destruction.

The SYRIZA president called the president of ND a "tragic political figure" because, as he said, Samaras turned from an anti-memorandum politician "to a guarantor of the memorandum. His red lines turned to red ribbons," he said, and accused Samaras of not speaking about the issue of elections.

"The Eurogroup is turning into the Procrustes of democracy in Europe. Schäuble plays the role of tanks in the Second World War." His comment about the dialogue between the finance ministers of Germany and Portugal on the sidelines of the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers last Thursday on open microphones was characteristic. "The finance minister of Portugal sits like a puppet in front of Schäuble and begs the Germans for help. We have come to a point where the Germans act as rulers of another era."