EUROZONE-GREECE/SYRIZA UPDATE Tsipras appeals for unity as party remains divided over bailout

Record ID: 146095

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/SYRIZA UPDATE Tsipras appeals for unity as party remains divided over bailout
  • Date: 27th July 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JULY 27, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF SYRIZA PARTY HEADQUARTERS GREECE'S PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS LEAVES BUILDING/GETS INTO HIS CAR MOON IN SKY GREEK FLAG FLUTTERING WITH MOON IN BACKGROUND GATHERING OF SYRIZA PARTY MEMBERS FORMER DEPUTY LABOUR MINISTER DIMITRIS STRATOULIS (LEFT, IN LIGHT BLUE STRIPED SHIRT) SYRIZA LAWMAKER KOSTAS LAPAVITSAS (IN BEIGE JACKET) SHAKING HANDS WITH FORMER DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER NIKOLOS CHOUNTIS CHOUNTIS SEATED PANAGIOTIS LAFAZANIS, FORMER ENERGY MINISTER AND LEADER OF SYRIZA'S LEFT PLATFORM, ARRIVING, RAISING FIST IN AIR VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS SEATED LAFAZANIS AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PANAGIOTIS LAFAZANIS, FORMER ENERGY MINISTER AND LEADER OF SYRIZA'S LEFT PLATFORM, SAYING: "They are making a huge mistake - those who think that the 62 percent who voted no was just a populist Sunday storm that came and went." AUDIENCE APPLAUDING BANNER "NO WAS NOT DEFEATED - WE CONTINUE..." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PANAGIOTIS LAFAZANIS, FORMER ENERGY MINISTER AND LEADER OF SYRIZA'S LEFT PLATFORM, SAYING: "We continue the fight until this 'no' is victorious. For a Greece without bailout, without austerity, without guardians. A Greece is democratic, progressive, and at the end of the day, socialist." LAFAZANIS WALKS OFF STAGE WIPING HIS BROW
  • Embargoed: 11th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA60L7GV8V99B2BU72F41BHBVPG
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday (July 27) appealed for unity as division over bailout measures deepens in his ruling Syriza party.
    Tsipras made the appeal during a gathering of the party's political committee at its headquarters in the capital Athens.
    Tsipras' appeal comes as media reports revealed that some of its party members wanted to raid central bank reserves and hack taxpayer accounts to prepare a return to the drachma.
    The media reports, which highlighted the chaos in Syriza, were attributed to former Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.
    Both are members of the leftist Syriza party and were sacked earlier this month when they, along with a quarter of the party's 149 lawmakers, rebelled over the bailout plans which parliament eventually approved.
    But in a separate event on Monday, Lafazanis, who heads the party's Left Platform, vowed to continue fighting the austerity measures in the 86 billion euros (95 billion U.S. dollars) bailout programme, casting doubt on the success of Tsipras's appeal for unity.
    "They are making a huge mistake - those who think that the 62 percent who voted no was just a populist Sunday storm that came and went," said Lafazanis, referring to the results of the July 5 referendum where angry Greeks voted overwhelmingly against an earlier bailout offer.
    But Tsipras later agreed in Brussels to the lenders' terms as the crisis deepened - angering members of his party.
    "We continue the fight until this 'no' is victorious. For a Greece without bailout, without austerity, without guardians. A Greece is democratic, progressive, and at the end of the day, Socialist," said Lafazanis who addressed supporters at an event marking the fifth year of the Left Platform's ISKRA website.
    The chaos in Syriza comes as Greece began talking to international creditors.
    Greece came close to the brink during a long stand off between the government and its creditors, with Athens missing a debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund and forced to close the country's banks for three weeks.
    The institutions involved in the talks are the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF, as well as the eurozone's rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
    The banks have re-opened after the ECB increased emergency funding but capital controls remain in place.
    Doubts also persist about whether a severely weakened Greek economy can support another programme after a six year-long slump that has cut national output by a quarter and sent unemployment over 25 percent.
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