Below is the letter that the man who will most likely be Greece's next premier sent out earlier today to "the European leadership" including Jean-Claude "I only lie when it is reeeeeealy important" Juncker, and Gollum Van Vompuy. According to local, pro-bailout Greek media, the tone is far more conciliatory than his remarks from the past few days. Well, it must be google-translated Greek to us, because we sure don't see much if any conciliation in the letter.
Full goog-translated copy below (original here [9]):
Letter from the President of the Group SYRIZA MCM , A word Tsipras
the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
the President of the European Council Van Rompuy
the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz
Notification:
President of European Central Bank Mario Drago
President of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker
Athens, Thursday 10 May 2012
Dear Mr. President,
I am sending you this letter after receipt of the exploratory mandate from the Greek President to ascertain the possibility of forming a Government enjoying the confidence of Parliament, under our Constitution. This letter builds upon the previous letter I sent on 21 February.
The vote of the Greek people Sunday May 6th nullifies/delegitimizes/makes illegal the political Memorandum of Understanding / Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policy signed by the previous Papademos government and the leaders of two political parties that had guaranteed the parliamentary majority of his government. Both parties recorded a loss of roughly 3.5 million votes, totaling 33.5% share of total votes.
Please note that before this, the MoU / MEFP had already been delegitimized in terms of its potential for economic success. But it's not just that the Memorandum of Understanding / MEFP failed to achieve its own objectives. It has also failed to address the structural imbalances and inequalities of the Greek economy. SYRIZA noted over the years the inherent weaknesses of the economy. All governments who work closely with the European Union ignored our recommendations for specific reforms.
Please also note that because of the policies of the Memorandum of Understanding / MEFP, Greece in 2012 is the only European country to endure its fifth successive year of deep recession during peacetime. Moreover the Bond Exchange Program (PSI) has failed to ensure the long-term viability of Greek debt which continues rising as a share of GDP. Austerity can in no way be the cure to recession. Therefore the immediate, socially just, reversal of the continuous decline of our economy is imperative.
We must urgently ensure economic and social stability in our country. For this purpose, we must take every political initiative to reverse the austerity and recession. Because apart from the lack of democratic legitimacy, continuing a program of internal devaluation is leading economy to catastrophy without creating conditions for recovery. The internal devaluation tends to lead to a humanitarian crisis.
Thus we need to rethink the entire context of the existing strategy, since it not only threatens Greece's social cohesion and stability, but is also a source of instability for the European Union and the EuroZone itself.
The common future of the European peoples is under the threat of such catastrophic choices. It is our deeply held belief that the economic crisis is of a European nature, and thus the solution must be found at the European level.
Sincerely,
Alexis Tsipras
President K.O SYRIZA
Vice President of the European Left Party