Greek Anti-Bailout Leader Rejects Unity Government Plan - Bloomberg
Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Greece’s biggest anti-bailout party Syriza, turned down an appeal by political leaders to join a unity government that would avert a new election amid mounting concern of a euro exit.
“I want to underline that the refusal of this proposal isn’t coming from Syriza, but from the Greek people themselves,” Tsipras said in Athens today, in comments televised live on state-run NET TV. “The people have already rejected the bailout so no government has the right to implement it.”
Tsipras’s refusal to participate in a government that would group two pro-bailout parties with his own and the smaller Democratic Left party dims hopes of avoiding another round at the ballot-box, which polls show may catapault Syriza into first place. The onus is now on President Karolos Papoulias to try and broker a government of national unity.
Greece’s political impasse since the inconclusive May 6 election has raised the possibility another vote will have to be held as early as next month, threatening the implementation of austerity pledges. The standoff has reignited European concerns over Greece’s ability to hold to terms of its two bailouts negotiated since May 2010 and sparked concerns about the country leaving the euro.