Greek PM resigns and calls election

GREEK Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his government’s resignation and called early elections yesterday in an attempt to get a new mandate to implement a three-year bailout programme.

In a televised address to the nation last night, Tsipras defended his government’s negotiating tactics and said Greece got the best deal possible.

GREEK prime minister Alexis Tsipras said last night that he is stepping down and calling early elections after suffering a rebellion within his left-wing Syriza party over the country’ new bailout programme.

In a televised address to the nation, Tsipras defended his government’s negotiating tactics and said Greece got the best deal possible for its three-year, €86 billion (£61bn) bailout from other eurozone countries.

He said that now that the country has secured its funding, he felt a “deep moral” obligation to lay his actions before the judgment of the Greek people.

Tsipras was due to formally submit his resignation to the country’s president. Elections will be held within a month, with government officials saying 20 September would be the likeliest date.

The bailout is conditional on Greece imposing stringent spending cuts and tax hikes – the very measures Tsipras won elections in January vowing to repeal. His U-turn in accepting the demands by the country’s creditors led to outrage among hardliners in his Syriza party, with dozens voting against him during the bailout’s ratification in parliament. The bailout was approved solely thanks to support from opposition parties.

Without the bailout, Greece faced defaulting on its debts. Tsipras has insisted that although he disagrees with the bailout conditions, he had no choice but to accept and implement them. Now that the country has secured its funding, Tsipras said he felt obliged to let the Greek people evaluate his work. “Now that this difficult cycle has ended I feel the deep moral and political obligation to set before your judgment everything I have done, both right and wrong, the achievements and the omissions,” he said.