On the 25th of January 2015, Greece decided to turn the page and elect a new, leftist government led by Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA party, and also turn their backs to austerity, poverty and the so-called memorandum, the nightmare of modern Greek society. This came as no surprise for many Greek politicians, that were seeing that people were fed up with living a life they could not actually live. High taxes, major cuts to wages and pensions, a basic salary of 586 euros and the constant presence of the famous Troika in Athens were some of the main characteristics of Greek reality.
People were hoping that all this would disappear if SYRIZA won the elections. And this was not midwinter night's dream. On the contrary, it was what SYRIZA was promising to change once they would be elected. What was most impressive was that SYRIZA's leader was absolutely sure that the EU would understand and accept all of his arguments. In one of his last interviews he pointed out that "there is no way that Mrs. Merkel can say no to our proposals". But isn't this a rather simplistic, non-realistic and childish way to view things?
Today, Greece has indeed a new government, but no new way of being governed since PM Tsipras realizes the ugly truth; you can't always get what you promise to your voters.
The margin for changing the route of Greek politics is very small. The reason is quite obvious; the country has so high loans that it is impossible for the new government to do whatever they want without having the approval of their European counterparts. It is sad, it is cynical but it is true. Not to mention that time is not on Greece's side since the country is running out of cash.
Finding himself in a very difficult position, Tsipras took a realistic turn to his rhetoric since he understood that the final word doesn't belong to him, but to Brussels. And Brussels said "no".
And even if Tsipras and his super-star Finance Minister Varoufakis tried to show that they are in control of the situation, soon one thing was proved; the government was using a different language when in Greece and another one when facing the EU.
What is most impressive though is that the Greek public opinion, even if it realized this double rhetoric, shows an unprecedented support of 70% to the government. Just a few days ago, it was the first time people were demonstrating in Athens in order to support Varoufakis to his "fight" during the latest Eurogroup. This was a clear message to everyone that in difficult times like these people need to be united. But is the government itself united?
Theoretically yes, literally no. And this is Tsipras' major problem; his government has more than one voice and multiple opinions that disagree openly and constantly. The more radical ones even ask for Tsipras to resign because he cannot stick to the promises he made before the elections!
Just three days ago, Yanis Varoufakis said that ENFIA property tax would not be changed until the government finds a better alternative. However, the next day, his deputy Minister Nadia Valavanis announced that ENFIA would end in 2015. Who should the people believe? If Tsipras cannot convince his own ministers to speak as one voice, how will he be able to convince Europe that things need to change?
No doubt, Alexis Tsipras dived into very deep waters and the time has come for him to show that he knows how to swim. However, it seems that his own party is pushing away his life jacket. And, unfortunately, the distance to the shore seems still very long.
