A strong warning to the EU

(Baonghean) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's visit to Russia while the EU and many countries in the region are determined not to forgive the debt they have lent to Greece. This has forced Greece to find its own way, which is to strengthen cooperation with Russia to both seek help and to "bargain" with the West in negotiations on upcoming bailout packages.

The problem is that tensions between the West and Russia have not shown any signs of cooling down due to the Ukraine crisis, while Greece, an EU country, has “joined hands” with Russia. This is clearly a warning of a major rift within the European Union.

Alexis Tsipras was born on July 28, 1974. In the early 1990s, while a multidisciplinary student, he became politically active during the student uprisings against the controversial student laws of the then Minister of Education Vasilis Kontogiannopoulos. He was a student representative in the Senate, from 1995 to 1997, and a member of the Central Council of the National Union of Greek Students. In 2000, he graduated from university and began working as an industrial engineer and continued his postgraduate studies, writing several research papers and projects on the subject of the City of Athens.

Also in 2000, Alexis Tsipras joined the Greek Communist Party, a member of the left-wing alliance Synaspismos, and joined the leadership of the youth wing of Synaspismos. As a youth leader, Alexis Tsipras's voice became increasingly important in the alliance and his influence on Synaspismos' policies also increased. Alexis Tsipras played a leading role in the formation of the Greek Social Forum and participated in all the demonstrations to protest the globalization trend that was being exploited by neo-conservative capitalists to exploit the poor around the world. In December 2004, at the Fourth Congress of the Synaspismos Party, Tsipras was elected to the Central Political Committee and a member of the Political Secretariat in charge of education and youth.

Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Source AFPGetty Images

Alexis Tsipras was elected as the President of the Synaspismos Party during its 5th Congress on 10 February 2008. Tsipras became the leader of Synaspismos at the age of 33, making him the youngest leader of a Greek political party. In the 2009 elections, he was elected to the Greek Parliament representing Athens A and was subsequently voted unanimously as the head of the SYRIZA (Radical Left Alliance) parliamentary group. Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to successful elections in 2012, and became the leader of the opposition.

In December 2013, he was the first candidate proposed for the position of President of the European Commission. Alexis Tsipras planned to run as the only candidate from the southern countries. In early May 2014, in a speech in Berlin, he clarified his position, opposing Merkel's alleged neoliberal political process that was dominating Europe. Alexis Tsipras announced a significant change towards a better future that all Europeans could see within 10 years. He referred to the failures of the 2008-2014 financial crisis. The speeches were given in English to a German audience and were heard throughout Europe, thereby greatly enhancing his political standing.

In the early election on January 25, Alexis Tsipras made strong commitments to help the Greek economy escape from the bailout packages of international creditors such as the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In order to get these loans, the government was forced to use very strict austerity policies such as implementing a tight fiscal policy; cutting public investment, causing widespread unemployment throughout society, sometimes up to 60%; reducing wages... causing the Greek people to fall into extreme poverty and most of them expressed dissatisfaction with the government.

The peak of the outrage was the incident in mid-August 2013, when a 19-year-old student died because he did not have enough money to buy a bus ticket worth 1.2 euros. That was the death of Thanassis Kanaoutis from a fatal head injury when he fell while trying to jump off a moving bus while it was passing through a low-income area of ​​​​the capital Athens. Many people at the scene believed that he acted like that after arguing fiercely with the bus conductor. However, Reuters reported that the victim's family suspected that Kanaoutis was pushed off the bus because he did not have enough money to pay and died immediately from a strong impact to the head.

The incident immediately caused anxiety in Greece, where the government is using increasingly harsh measures to raise tax revenues amid pressure from international creditors. Anti-government protests broke out across the country in the days that followed and grew more widespread. With the economic crisis and confidence in the government at rock bottom, it was easy to see why Alexis Tsipras, a radical politician who ran against the government, would win.

Returning to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' visit to Russia, in the context of tensions between the West and Russia still at their highest level after the Ukraine crisis. This visit is highly anticipated and expected by the people of this country, a person in the capital Athens said: "In my opinion, Mr. Tsipras has the right to go to Russia. Although this makes Greece's partners unhappy, they must understand that from now on, they will no longer support us, even threaten to close our banks and put pressure on us. We must save ourselves before we run out of money.

I think Mr. Tsipras is doing the right thing.” That is the reaction of the people, while Greece’s partners, specifically the European Union, are very worried about this event. Right before the trip of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz said, “I don’t know if Russia will provide financial support to Greece and when this will happen. But I can advise Mr. Tsipras not to endanger the unity of the European Union”; or the fact that the Western media pays close attention and continuously reports like “President Putin is preparing a “gift” for Prime Minister Tsipras”; “Europe is being threatened by the Russian bear”… is the clearest evidence of the EU’s concern.

The question is why is Europe so worried? Observers say that this visit to Russia will be the clearest sign of disagreement, especially the imposition of harsh sanctions on Europe's largest country stemming from the crisis in Ukraine. Obviously, when Greece gains economic benefits, specifically Russia is likely to lift the ban on agricultural imports imposed on the EU in retaliation for the sanctions it has suffered, or energy and industrial issues, including the proposal to expand the gas pipeline through Turkey to Greece, this is a step that contributes to strengthening Greece's prestige in the region and the world as well as helping Greece gain hundreds of millions of dollars from the pipeline transit fee.

When these agreements are reached, no one can predict how many countries, especially those in the EU whose agricultural production has been heavily affected by Russian sanctions, will reconsider their policies to save their struggling production? And that will certainly cause significant cracks in the European Union, which has not been united by the continuous sanctions against Russia related to the Ukraine issue, especially after Crimea was annexed by Russia.

After their first talks, both Russian President Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke out to “reassure” Europe with their statements. Russian President Putin said: “Greece has not asked Russia for financial assistance to solve its public debt problem. He also rejected rumors that Russia is “flattering” Greece in order to divide Europe and weaken the European Union’s sanctions against Russia related to the Ukraine crisis.”

For his part, Prime Minister Tsipras also reaffirmed Greece’s opposition to the sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries last year and called on Europe to lift sanctions against Russia. But Alexis Tsipras also stressed that his visit to Russia was not a “confrontation” with the West, as Greece had the right to develop a warmer relationship with Russia. Although there have been assertions from both sides and the two sides have not signed any specific agreements, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ visit to Russia is clearly a warning against the new rift in the European Union on issues related to Russia.

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