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Monday, January 26, 2015

German Politicians Congratulate Tsipras on SYRIZA Win

Congratulations to SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras came in on Sunday night from German politicians. Bodo Ramelow, Minister-President of Thuringia, expressed his congratulations, to which Tsipras responded that “this is not a victory just for SYRIZA, but a new start for the people of Europe.” German politicians continued to publicize their views on the apparent electoral victory of SYRIZA, with MEP Bernd Lucke, founding member of Alternative for Germany (AfD), who supported a Greek debt “haircut” followed by the country’s exit from the Eurozone, which he saw as the only way of dealing with economic problems and mass unemployment. “SYRIZA does not want to cast doubt on the euro,” he said, “but he demands a debt write-off and further credits; these two don’t go together.” Angelika Niebler, head of the European Parliament’s CSU Group, said that a new “haircut” is “not realistic” because it will not resolve problems. “Greece must continue its structural reforms and bring its budget back to health,” she said. Gianni Pattella, President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament, called on SYRIZA to create an alliance with a European focus, adding that renegotiation of the Greek debt must not be seen as a taboo topic. European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) head in Brussels, Herbert Reul, ruled out a new “haircut” and said “Greece must continue on its part of reforms, if they do not want to risk an exit from the Eurozone.” In statements to “Rheinische Post,” Anton Hofreiter, co-chair of the Green Party faction in the German parliament, said that the governments of Greece and Germany, along with the EU, must find a way out, “to give people in Greece a future,” and supported a “haircut” under terms and in exchange with social and economic reforms in Greece. Greens MP Sven-Christian Kindler said to “Handelsblatt” that a “haircut” in the European public sector under controllable terms would be a way out. (source: ana-mpa)


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