(Reuters) - Greek
radical leftist leader Alexis Tsipras, running to head the European Commission,
said on Thursday his country's EU-led bailout has been a failure, despite
Athens' recent return to bond markets.
Greece is also holding two rounds of
municipal elections on May 18 and on May 25. Tsipras, the European Left's
candidate in the European elections, made his first appearance in a string of
televised debates among the contenders. These debates are the first of their
kind as the EU seeks to show its relevance to increasingly hostile voters.
The other candidates to run the EU's
executive are centre-right Luxembourg politician Jean-Claude Juncker, 61-year
old Belgian liberal Guy Verhofstadt, 32-year old Green politician Ska Keller
from Germany and German Socialist Martin Schulz, 58.
Tsipras reiterated demands for Europe-wide
debt reduction and called for an end to bailout-imposed austerity policies
across Europe to boost economic growth. "If we don't finish with
austerity, we'll never solve the problem of unemployment," said the Athens-trained
civil engineer, the only debate participant to speak in his native language.
Juncker, 59, who led Greek rescue talks as
head of euro zone finance ministers four years ago, dismissed Tsipras'
criticism. "I did what I could to make Greece stay in the euro. I will
never accept the charge that we lacked in solidarity," he said.
Tsipras, 39, stands little chance of
becoming Commission president. But he expects the candidacy to boost his
radical leftist Syriza party, which stunned the political establishment in
2012, coming out of nowhere to become Greece's second-biggest party and the
main parliamentary opposition.
Syriza has since staunchly opposed the terms
of Greece's 237 billion euro bailout, which saved the country from bankruptcy
at the price of severe austerity and record unemployment. The outcome of the
European elections in Greece is being closely watched by financial markets for
any sign of growing political risk in the country, which remains dependent on
aid from the EU and IMF despite its successful bond sale last month.
Greece's pro-bailout government says it will
need no further rescue when the current one expires later this year. Tsipras
has said he would seek to negotiate an international write-off of about
one-third of Greece's debt if Syriza came to power but said he prefers a
consensus solution rather than using the option of a Greek default as a weapon.
Tsipras has recently moderated some of his
more aggressive rhetoric and sought to position himself as a pro-Europe
politician. Again in contrast with his rivals, Tsipras opposed EU sanctions
against Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Syriza has led in the polls in the
run-up to the local and EU vote in Greece, but Tsipras has failed to open a
wide lead over Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's New Democracy party.
(Πηγή: reuters.com)
