Tsipras’s plan still doesn’t add up A GLANCE at the crowds climbing the Acropolis suggests a normal Athenian summer, despite ominous noises coming from Brussels. Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, still claims he can cut a deal with Greece’s creditors this month to unlock much-needed bail-out money while avoiding more austerity that could create another deep recession. Yet his optimism is not shared by many. Even supporters of Mr Tsipras’s radical-left Syriza party know that reforms to pensions and labour markets, which he has called “red lines”, may be needed to remain in the euro (a recent poll finds 79% of Greeks in favour of staying). “We’ll have to make concessions in the end, but at least Alexis is putting up a fight,” says Vassilis Stangos, a retired builder. The bail-out monitors—the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB)—are frustrated by Greece’s repeated failure to produce credible plans for reforms. Meanwhile, Mr Tsipras calls repeatedly for a “political” solution. “Roughly translated, it means Athens wants cash with as few conditions as possible,” says one weary Eurocrat (see...
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