Tsipras was "diplomatic" with ambassadors

Mr. Alexis Tsipras' approach towards the diplomatic representatives of the 20 most powerful countries was careful and “well-rounded”. The SYRIZA leader attempted to depict an image of the worthy partner who might handle the fate of the country from June 18th onwards. He was a lot milder than his previous speech in Athinais on Friday, where he presented SYRIZA’s updated program. Mr. Tsipras underlined that “he wishes the country to remain in the Euro and does not seek to extort the EU”, and that he wants to find a common solution with the partners. In no part of his speech were there any terms such as “terminating the loan agreement” and “cancelling the Memorandum”, while it was clear that his close associates commented that “it was good that everyone attending realized that we are not a party that wishes to destroy everything”.

The SYRIZA president tried to assure them that “we hope to replace the Memorandum with a national recovery plan based on economic and social development, productive and equitable reconstruction and fiscal consolidation”. “Not only do we not deny the need for fiscal consolidation, but on the contrary, we seek it… Our goal is to raise the tax revenue to GDP ratio by one unit every year so that in 4 years we can reach the European average revenue. In order to achieve this, we will strike a blow against tax evasion and tax big wealth and incomes for which tax immunity is accepted by international organizations”. He tried to reassure foreign diplomats that SYRIZA does not want to extort partners “but rather will seek an agreed solution”.

The “suspicion” of the Danes, the anxiety of the Spanish and the incident with the Turk

According to information, during the closed meeting between Mr. Tsipras and diplomats from the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark, they asked to be filled in on the measures that will replace the Memorandum and which measures SYRIZA will renegotiate. Mr. Tsipras preented to them the national plan of reconstruction and explained that we are a sovereign nation with a parliament and laws and that Greek people voting cannot be thought of as unilateral action.

In addition, the Spanish diplomat enquired in detail how and by what process Mr. Tsipras is planning to terminate the Memorandum, while the German diplomat avoided speaking of financial matters and was limited to foreign policy issues and the denuclearization of Iran. A verbal incident took place with the Turkish ambassador who, during the talk on the Cyprus issue, interrupted the dialogue and tensely stated that “the Greco-Cypriot side is intransigent about the matter and thus the solution to the problem cannot proceed”. Mr. Tsipras’ reaction was immediate; he stated that “it is not like that, the intolerance is on the other side”. Furthermore, the Danish diplomat sought to find out SYRIZA’s position on NATO, while Mr. Tsipras stated that currently his party’s priority is to save the starving people.

The ambassadors of the countries participating in the G20 (the group of the 20 largest economies in the world, which are the USA, South Africa, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, the UK and the EU as a whole), were invited to meet with SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras. The meeting took place at Zappeion.

Germans, French and Americans “snubbed” the meeting

In addition, Mr. Tsipras stressed that the elections of June 17th are critical for Europe and the global economy, and that “the Greek people are called upon to send a message to all Europeans in order for Democracy to return to the foreground of Europe, democracy which Greece handed out universally 2.5 thousand years ago”, while in order to respond to the invitees as to what SYRIZA is and what it seeks, he referred to the three colours of the flag, explaining “red is for the labor movement, green is for ecology and purple is for feminism”. Finally, Mr. Tsipras presented his party’s positions on Greek-Turkish relations, the Cyprus issue and the EEZ.

Instead of the heads of their diplomatic mission to Greece, Washington and Berlin were represented at a lower level, sending other diplomats to the meeting with Mr. Tsipras. Japan, China and Saudi Arabia were represented by lower-ranking diplomats.

Most countries participating in the G20 sent their diplomatic heads. Argentina, Brazil, Canads, India, Italy, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, the UK, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Denmark (the last 4 countries do not participate in the G20) sent their ambassadors to Athens to attend the speech and talk with Mr. Tsipras. Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Australia were not represented in the meeting between the SYRIZA president and diplomats from the G20.