Tomorrow, Alexis Tsipras will convene the… National Council of his new party, choosing the anniversary of the announcement of the referendum of 2015.

Perhaps Alexis Tsipras’s remark that it was his mistake not to have closed the banks when he took office as prime minister may not have been entirely coincidental, considering that he chose June 27 to convene the National Council of the new party he founded marking the 11th anniversary of that 2015 address in which he had announced the referendum.

We’re talking about the July 5 referendum with its questions that were misleading to the public —as documented in the documentary “To the Millimeter” broadcast by SKAI– which, however, was preceded by Alexis Tsipras’s announcement in the early morning hours of June 27, 2015, that led to the closure of the banks and capital controls.

The lines at ATMs for a few euros, the fainting spells of pensioners outside the banks, the tragic images broadcast internationally have left an indelible mark and come to mind every time someone promises the moon and by handing out money from money trees and anything else one can imagine.

Those were dramatic days. The consequences of creative ambiguity and “proud negotiation” hit all the citizens of this country, with banks closing after losing their liquidity –40 billion vanished–, trade and transactions turned into nightmares, and the capital controls imposed to prevent the country from collapsing lasted a full 50 months.

And that’s not all. The referendum announced by Alexis Tsipras helped turn the slogan “it’s either them or us” into reality, creating conditions of extreme polarization right up until the day it took place, when the then-prime minister made the move that became internationally known as kolotoumpa.

The then-close associates of the new party’s president—who is now being left out in the cold—declared on that fateful night that “it’s a good night; a beautiful day will dawn for the people to decide whether this agreement will be accepted” and other such revolutionary remarks.

Presenting his book “Ithaca,” Alexis Tsipras insisted on the correctness of his decision, arguing that “it served as a catalyst for new and better conditions in the negotiation process” while overlooking what happened in the country. Above all, however, he ignored what happened to the middle class, low-wage earners, those on low pensions, and the vulnerable.

The reality was harsh and relentless, as became evident later with the reversal of the “NO” vote to a “YES,” the additional 100 billion and the mortgaging of public assets for 99 years, the 29 new taxes or tax hikes, the cuts to wages and pensions, and everything that followed.

Alexis Tsipras may have chosen this specific date to show that he stands by his positions. But it brings back memories that aren’t exactly pleasant. Unless he believes he can ward off the evil as a new president with a new party. Except that he himself has a past, and that doesn’t change.