1/ Tsipras’s era in Greece, an obituary: political scientists in the future will be studying the Syriza phenomenon as one of the rare cases of an “empty signifier” party. Contrary to common misunderstandings, Tsipras isn’t partisan. In fact, ideological emptiness is his key trait
2/ He would appeal to the left while governing in coalition with the far-right. Syriza would issue statements backing Maduro, while the government would back -on the same weekend! - joint EU communiques condemning Maduro. They opposed the bailout while implementing it with rigor
3/... He would lash out at the political establishment, while much of his cabinet were former ministers or senior officials from PASOK and New Democracy. He would play nice with Russia and then expel Russian diplomats and deal a blow to Russian interests with the Macedonian deal
4/ He would say “welcome” to refugees and then have them tortured in inhumane conditions in refugee camps so that others don’t join them. He called a referendum for the same reasons that he annulled its outcome. Sole driver of his actions was staying in power, nothing ideological
5/ There were partisans in Syriza’s 1st government, but they left when he capitulated. They were arguably wrong, but they believed in something -whatever that was. For those who stayed, the glue holding the party together was power, nothing else. Tsipras was what you made of him
6/ These plasticine/supermarket qualities made him so likeable in Brussels. He could be convinced to back anything & its exact opposite, as long as it was serving his purpose. The problem was that a functioning state wasn’t serving it. Hence the scars he left to institutions
7/ In that spirit, the reasoning behind the Macedonian deal was to cause a split in the opposition, to prolong his stay in power. He hoped that some would back it (incl. Mitsotakis under pressure from EU), thus dividing ND between center-right and hard right. It didn’t work
8/ The culmination of his will to stay was allegedly asking govt-appointed judges to go after the entire opposition, accusing them of taking bribes from Novartis. Both witnesses & prosecutors in the case said they were put under pressure to incriminate opposition. Case collapsed
9/ Stop for a moment to think the gravity of this: If high court prosecutors and witnesses in Poland or Hungary had alleged the govt asked them to incriminate the opposition, there would be continent-wide uproar. The EU stayed silent. Anyway, neither this tactic worked at the end
10/ Final effort to stay in power: spill the milk of budget consolidation with handouts, favors, tax cuts, you name it. This spending spree shows that Tsipras didn’t care much about fiscal stability either. He just beat EU-dictated targets for as long as this was convenient
11/ At the end, nothing worked. Scandals (some involving him & close aides), weak growth, mishandling of crises, a general sense of lawlessness, took their toll. Because no matter how flexible he was, the main social demand this time round was jobs, not handouts. And wasn’t met
