Rival accuses Syriza of wanting to ‘blow up’ relations with Germany

17/3/2015

By Kerin Hope

In Greece’s war of words against Germany, one voice sounds strikingly different.

Stavros Theodorakis, a political newcomer and leader of the centre-left To Potami (the River) party, argues that the Syriza-led government is squandering political capital by consistently taking aim at Berlin.

“The Germans today are friends of Greece and we shouldn’t have government ministers pursuing a hostile relationship with them,” Mr Theodorakis said in an interview with the Financial Times.

“Millions of Germans come to Greece on holiday every year and there are close ties between our peoples . . . But there are some brainless people who want to blow up this relationship,” he added.

While Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, has softened his own anti-German rhetoric since taking office he allows members of his cabinet to let rip against the Berlin government.

The verbal barrage is led by Panos Kammenos, defence minister and leader of Independent Greeks, a small rightwing party that unexpectedly became Syriza’s coalition partner in government.

In an interview published in the German tabloid Bild over the weekend, Mr Kammenos accused Berlin of “conducting psychological warfare against Greece” with the aim of pushing the country out of the eurozone.

The previous week Mr Kammenos threatened to let thousands of informal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, arriving on Greek islands, travel directly to Germany, while stressing there could be Islamic extremists among them.

“What’s extremely damaging for the country is that the new government hasn’t managed to build a relationship of trust with the EU partners and Germany,” Mr Theodorakis says, citing not only the rhetoric from Athens but a series of confrontational meetings between Greek officials and their European counterparts.

A popular television journalist who fronted his own investigative programme reporting on social issues, Mr Theodorakis founded To Potami a year ago on a platform of making Greece “a normal modern European country”.

To Potami won 17 parliamentary seats at a general election in January that brought Syriza to power. While lacking a nationwide party organisation, it still took fourth place, capturing 6.1 per cent of the vote mostly in urban constituencies.

The new party had planned to participate in a Syriza-led government following pre-election discussions on a joint policy programme.

But To Potami’s hopes of sharing power were dashed when Mr Kammenos and his 13 lawmakers signed up with Syriza unconditionally in spite of the ideological divide.

Though Mr Tsipras asked him to join the coalition, Mr Theodorakis refused, saying To Potami could not co-operate with Independent Greeks.

The government has been “running backwards” during its first 50 days in office, he says.

“They’re shadowboxing against imaginary opponents, taking on issues that don’t have much significance, for example the German war reparations.”

Mr Tsipras last week made a provocative demand in a speech to parliament for compensation of more than €160bn to cover a forced loan by Greece to its Nazi occupiers and destruction of the country’s assets during the second world war.

His remarks, which were swiftly dismissed by Berlin, were intended to soothe Syriza’s domestic audience as Greece resumed talks with international lenders, Mr Theodorakis said.

“It’s true the issue of the forced loan is still pending and needs to be resolved at some point, as several previous governments mentioned publicly. But in my view it’s not so important right now. “

For all his criticism of the new government’s first weeks on the job, Mr Theodorakis has not yet given up on Syriza.

“We’re prepared to support Syriza provided it wants to keep Greece in the euro and make the structural reforms it promised,” he said. “The government’s committed to the euro but they’re not making any reforms. But it’s still too soon to reach specific conclusions.”

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