Former prime minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday published a lengthy political manifesto on conjoining what he defined as the main drivers of leftwing politics, in an indication of what his planned political party could come to represent.
In a social media post, Tsipras said the manifesto on how the Left could return to government in Greece, drafted by a working group in his Alexis Tsipras Institute, focused on “bringing together the three chief tendencies in the contemporary Left: Social Democrats, the Radical Left and Greens.”
At the head of the radical left SYRIZA party, Tsipras came to power at the height of Greece’s financial crisis in March 2015, promising to scrap hated austerity measures imposed by international creditors as part of the country’s bailout deal.
Instead, he was forced to impose further austerity to secure a new bailout. Tsipras won new elections in September 2015 but failed to be re-elected four years later and resigned from his party leadership as SYRIZA’s popularity collapsed.
He has indicated that he will form a new political parry in time for the next parliamentary elections, set for 2027. A Metron Analysis poll published Wednesday found that up to 11% of respondents would “very likely” vote for a new party headed by Tsipras.
Tsipras said Friday that the main aim of the new manifesto “is to renew the political discourse and create a cohesive framework of principles and directions that will defend all that belongs to us in common, forming a convincing alternative option to the dominance of neoliberalism and the far right.”
The document itself argued that a series of consecutive crises over the past 15 years, which it defined as “financial, health, energy, environmental and institutional,” have deeply affected the public’s understanding of the state, the economy and democratic policies.
As a result, it said, most Greeks are seeking “a state that guarantees justice and welfare.”
“This social majority of progressive citizens is currently seeking its political representation,” it observed, and urged the confluence of Social Democrats, Radical leftists and Greens as “a crucial political necessity” – effectively courting the main opposition Socialist PASOK, the remnants of SYRIZA, which includes a strong Green element, and other smaller splinter parties.
Social Democrats, it said, should “depart from the rationale of management” and join the radical Left in fighting inequality and corruption, while the latter grouping should formulate “realistic and practically applicable” policies on a new production model and institutional reforms. Greens, it argued, “should join the core of a new growth model that would combine sustainability, energy security and social justice.”
In a likely reference to Tsipras’ background in government, the document said: “We are not infallible, but at the same time we are proud of our past and our struggles. But above all we are interested in the present and the future of our fellow citizens.”