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Syriza outcasts form new political party, will push for Grexit
Another Black Swan? Syriza Outcasts Form New Political Party, Will Push For Grexit | Zero Hedge
Once upon a time, Panagiotis Lafazanis had a plan to save Greece.
On July 14, just two days after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sold out the Greek referendum “no” vote by agreeing to a shockingly punitive bailout deal in Brussels, Lafazanis convened a meeting of Syriza party “rebels” at a hotel in Athens. There, he allegedly attempted to convince his fellow lawmakers to storm the Greek mint, seize the country’s reserves, and arrest central bank governor Yannis Stournaras. “Obviously, it was a moment of high tension,”one activist who attended the secret meeting later told FT.
Yes, “obviously.” Equally obvious once news of the meeting leaked was that Lafazanis would not be Energy Minister for much longer and sure enough, he was sacked by Tsipras as the premier sought to pave the way for a series of votes in parliament on bailout prior actions.
Earlier this month, as rumors started to circulate that Tsipras might not have the support to survive a confidence vote, Lafazanis announced he was forming his own political party, which was funny right up until Thursday when Tsipras resigned, setting off a series of events that will see Greeks head back to the polls in September. Now, Lafazanis has seized the opportunity to convince 28 other Greek lawmakers to join him and his new party which will be called “Popular Unity,” an ironic choice, given that it grew out of the desire to split with a party leader who had become decisively unpopular among Syriza’s Left Platform.
Yannis Koutsomitis @YanniKouts
Popular Unity head Lafazanis says new party supports orderly #Grexit and does not accept #Greece being blackmailed by Merkel & Schäuble.
Here’s more from Bloomberg:
A group of Greek lawmakers opposed to the country’s bailout program abandoned the governing party, Syriza, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras moved to force an early election to shore up his position.
The lawmakers, whose names were read out on Friday by a deputy parliament speaker on television from Athens, will be called “Popular Unity” and led by former Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis. The number of rebels reached 29 after four more parliamentarians joined the initial breakaway group, Athens News Agency reported.
Though his eight months at the helm of Europe’s most-indebted country were beset by turmoil and brought the economy to the brink of ruin, Tsipras used a televised address on Thursday to list his achievements, from clinching a new aid package to securing a firmer commitment from euro-area partners to consider debt relief.
Tsipras remains popular with Greek voters, who gave Syriza 33.6 percent support, a 15.8 percentage-point lead over the main opposition New Democracy party, in a July 25 poll by Metron Analysis. Polls haven’t yet offered an indication of how much support Popular Unity would siphon off.
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2015/08/syriza-outcasts-form-new-political.html
