Tsipras: Exit to Markets is a Shot to the Foot

The government is all but triumphant about today's successful run to the capital markets, but main opposition SYRIZA party considers it all but destructive for the country. Talking today in a conference of the United European Left, party president Alexis Tsipras said that the market run was for “petty political and communicative reasons” and described it as the equivalent of “shooting one's self in the foot”.

He claimed that by rushing to the capital markets, the country is weakening the argument of the necessary negotiation for remission, which could make the debt sustainable. “It's quite obvious that not only are we not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but we remain trapped in debt”, he added.

Mr Tsipras believes that such an early run before a common European solution on Greece's debt restructuring, could be potentially hurtful. He claims that the yield is still too high and the only real winners are the “so called investors” who stand to gain over 600 million euros, burdening the country with further debt.

The SYRIZA president is adamant that such a run should take place after the country's debt restructuring because that way the yield would be significantly lower. His estimate is that even so, this run covers about 10% of the country's financial needs, just 2.5 billion out of a total 27.8 billion euros needed for 2014. He says that Ireland and Portugal who run to the markets in January, secured about 50% of their needs for the year.

Mr Tsipras talked about the European Left's proposal concerning a European solution for the debt. The proposal contains a moratorium on interest pay and the introduction of a development clause. That is, after a huge chunk of the countries of the European South debts has been written off.