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Alexis Tsipras: The Premier Playing Roulette With Greece's Future
Highlights
In the five months since he came to power vowing to deliver his country from years of biting austerity, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has kept Greece and Europe guessing.
In the five months since he came to power vowing to deliver his country from years of biting austerity, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has kept Greece and Europe guessing.
For some he is a master strategist who has called the bluff of Greece's creditors by giving the people the final say on a painful debt deal.
To others he is a clueless novice, who has taken Greece into uncharted waters by hurriedly calling a vote that could send the country crashing out of the eurozone.
Whatever the result of Sunday's bailout referendum the maverick politician, who has infuriated his EU counterparts with his obstinance -- and bemused them by refusing to wear a tie until a deal is done -- has taken a huge gamble.
Tsipras denies playing fast and loose with Greece's future, saying a "No" vote would strengthen Athens's hand in negotiations with Europe and the IMF and that talk of a "Grexit" is nothing more than scaremongering.
Always a Rebel
As a teen Tsipras was already at the barricades, fighting for students to decide whether to go to classes.
"We want the right to judge for ourselves whether to skip class," he told a TV interviewer while leading a school sit-in at 17.
Twenty-three years later he is throwing out the rule book again. But the Greek public, which cheered his combative approach with creditors at the start of his mandate, is in two minds about whether to stick with him.
And yet, despite his defiant pose and talk of ending twice bailed-out Greece's "humiliation", the 40-year-old leader of the radical leftist Syriza party has made a slew of concessions in fraught talks with his eurozone counterparts.
He has agreed to continue to cut spending and implement structural reforms, leading former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to declare with satisfaction that Tsipras had "eaten his hat".
But on June 27, Tsipras drew a line in the sand.
Rejecting the additional austerity measures attached to a five-month, 12-billion-euro ($13.4-billion) extension of Greece's bailout programme he took to the airwaves to announce a surprise referendum on the package in a week's time.
"The people must decide free of any blackmail," he declared.
On the Ropes
Olivier Delorme, a Franco-Greek historian, said Tsipras "has made endless concessions and each time he has been knocked back".
"By saying 'don't be afraid' and talking of 'dignity restored' he is continuing a leitmotiv of resistance in Greek history," Delorme said, comparing Syriza's approach with Greek rebellion under Ottoman rule.
His insistence he is not for turning has made Tsipras the standard bearer of radical leftist parties across Europe.
But the prime minister's abrupt decision to test his vision of democracy with the referendum sparked scenes of panic in Greece, where people immediately mobbed ATMs after Saturday's broadcast to try withdraw cash.
A day later, as expected, the government introduced capital controls limiting bank withdrawals.
The chaos have caused some of Tsipras's supporters to sour on him.
Two days before the referendum, opinion polls showed the "Yes" camp swelling to match, or maybe even slightly overtake, "No" voter intentions.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has suggested the government will resign if it fails to carry the day.
Tsipras, however, has kept his cards close to his chest, saying only that in that event he would shoulder his responsibilities as "guarantor of the constitution".
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