Noting that he “returned as a messiah after being a failed leader,” Maximos Charakopoulos commented on the return of Alexis Tsipras to the central political stage.
“Mr. Tsipras left as a failed leader with 17%–18% and now aspires to return as a messiah, as a savior, with poll numbers lower than those for which he was deemed a failure and left. I see this rebranding, but so far it’s a bit like “Manolios changed and put on different clothes,” as the secretary-general of the Parliamentary Group of New Democracy, a member of parliament from Larissa, speaking on ERT News.
At the same time, the Thessalian politician noted that “SYRIZA leaders are vying to be included on Mr. Tsipras’s electoral lists. The people who voted for SYRIZA in the previous elections have now shifted their support to Mr. Tsipras. The most serious issue, however, that we must address is that it appears Mr. Tsipras has learned nothing from this period—from ‘19 and ‘23—when he lost—and is now returning with the same views and the same logic, with a auction of promises.”
Fiscal brake and costed party programs
The Secretary-General of the New Democracy parliamentary group emphasized at this point, two important aspects concerning the constitutional revision and the upcoming elections.
He considered first the fact that in the constitutional revision establishes, among other things, the so-called fiscal brake, “so that the country does not fall back into turmoil, into bankruptcies, or face situations like those we experienced during the SYRIZA administration, when we nearly found ourselves outside the EU and the eurozone, having lost the country’s greatest achievement since the restoration of democracy,” as he said.
Second, that “the elections, which lie ahead of us in the spring of 2027, as the prime minister has repeatedly pledged, will be the first elections in which the parties’ platforms can be costed by an independent fiscal authority. A law we passed in 2023 provides for this possibility—it is not an obligation, but a possibility. “But I think that the parties that do not submit their platforms for cost estimation will also be judged on their credibility,” he continued.
Maximos Charakopoulos also pointed out that “we paid dearly for both the ‘parallel programs’ and the ‘Thessaloniki programs,’ and today I see fiscal populism. Empty promises have begun, and they must be costed. Every promise made must be accompanied by a plan for how the funds will be secured.”
