Rich Greeks did nothing to help Greece overcome the financial crisis and it is not certain that SYRIZA will implement its leftist policies if they come to power, according to a Financial Times commentary. In commenting on Greece’s effort to exit the bailout program early, Tony Barber asserts that patronage in the Greek state and the rich businessmen and industrialists survived the financial crisis unscathed. He says that by trying to exit the bailout program early, Greece is in danger of stumbling at the last moment, like the runner who trips on the last hurdle and falls. Antonis Samaras believes that if he frees Greece from the grips of the troika early, he will win the president of the republic elections in February and the coalition government will be in a position of power until the next elections in June 2016. The article says that even in case of premature elections, Samaras believes that New Democracy might win if he manages to get rid of the troika’s supervision earlier. However, polls show that early elections are likely to bring leftist SYRIZA into power. Still, SYRIZA may not gather enough votes to form a government. The writer says that in case Alexis Tsipras becomes prime minister, it is not certain that his bite will be worse than his bark. The SYRIZA leader will be forced to negotiate with the European partners and markets will force him to negotiate the sovereign debt with Greece’s lenders. Tsipras states that he wants Greece to remain in the eurozone, something that will not allow him to implement his far-left agenda. For Antonis Samaras, a SYRIZA win might mean that all the people’s sacrifices under the austerity measures and the hard work his government has put on pulling Greece out of the economic crisis will go to waste. Barber says that at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if Samaras remains in power or he is replaced by Tsipras. What really matters is that after five years of hardships for Greek people, nothing has changed in Greek politics and society. The corrupt state remains strong, patronage is still present and rich Greeks did absolutely nothing to help the country, or their fellowmen during these five years. The only ones who suffered were the middle class and the poor.
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