At the Delphi Economic Forum, Alexis Tsipras appeared with an ease reminiscent of a protagonist in a familiar show.

Same words, different wrapping. Normality, stability, responsibility. And yet, the more you listen to him, the more you feel something doesn’t add up. Because we’ve heard this stuff before. And we know how they ended up.

When he talks about “not a normal country,”he’s not a neutral observer saying it. It’s being said by the guy who governed at a time when tension became the norm and uncertainty the order of the day. When capital controls were imposed, when ATM lines became the picture of the day and people waited to withdraw a fifty. That was the “normality” we experienced. And now it appears as if it has nothing to do with that period.

The same goes for “I have no class rage.” Hard to take it seriously. Because “it’s us or them” was not an unfortunate moment. The “either we finish them or they finish us” was not an exaggeration. It was the core of an entire political strategy. It was the tool he used to divide and conquer. Today he presents himself as a force for synthesis. Without explanation. Without an account.

In the realm of patriotism, things get even heavier. It returns, he says, from “patriotic duty”but with it comes the Prespa Agreement, whether he likes it or not. erga omnes was presented as a national success, but it was only applied in name only. Language and ethnicity remained “Macedonian”. That is the fact. And it is on this that he is now coming to build a narrative of responsibility.

In this context, a curious political conspiracy also appears. Alexis Tsipras finds an unexpected ally in Charis Doukas for the Prespes Agreement. Only this stance is a far cry from PASOK‘s longstanding line on the issue. Suddenly, consistency goes out the window and politics becomes opportunistic convergence. Whatever suits the moment.

In the economy, criticism of the benefits sounds almost ironic. Because it comes from the man who made them a key policy tool. The difference is that today the country has supported society through successive crises. Then, in a period of European recovery, we found ourselves paying the price of the first half of 2015. A heavy and long-lasting price.

And then comes the narrative of “20 or 30 rich people”who know them by name and will tax them. That’s where the picture gets out of hand. Because when he was in power, he not only didn’t bother them, he played bats with them inside Maximus. Now he remembered them. Now they became a problem. Selective indignation is not convincing.

But if we are talking about normality and the rule of law, then things are even more concrete. In his time in office, his right-hand man and top minister was irrevocably convicted of misconduct. There was also the “apsy” who threatened to plant journalists ten feet under the ground and talked bluntly about interfering with the judiciary When he said it, he covered himself politically. When he publicly targeted people, he was not deleted. He was just moved. That was the “normalcy” back then.

And now he’s back to tell us he wants to restore it. That he has a responsibility. That it’s time. The question is not whether he returns. The question is how he returns. As if nothing happened.

At the end of the day, no matter how many words change, no matter how many slogans are renewed, the essence remains the same.

He is the same Alexis Tsipras. And we, just spectators in the same play

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