Former parliament president Zoe Konstantopoulou, a one-time political ally but now a sharp-tongued detractor of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his SYRIZA government, on Wednesday revealed that the mood at Tsipras’ office after the July referendum was “somber”.
Konstantopoulou was referring to the resounding “no” result from the July 6 referendum, called by Tsipras after negotiations with institutional creditors – the “troika” of the time – reached an impasse. Greek voters were called on to state whether or not they accept creditors’ terms.
The outspoken Greek politician opposed the third bailout deal that was eventually passed by Parliament in August and subsequently left the leftist party for a newly formed formation by SYRIZA dissenters – the Popular Unity party – which failed to enter Parliament in the snap September 2015 election.
In comments to the local Athens television station Skai, Konstantopoulou said she also believes that PM Tsipras had already agreed with creditors, possibly before the January 2015 election. She also charged that Tsipras had revealed his intention to hold a referendum as far back as February or March 2015, months before the poll was unveiled.
Moreover, Konstantopoulou said she understood that a “Plan B” was in the works to create a parallel system of payments, following a briefing given by then FinMin Yianis Varoufakis in Tsipras’ office on May 16.
