Matteo Renzi, Italy's
prime minister, gave his Greek counterpart, newly-elected Alexis Tsipras, the
gift of a tie on Tuesday, making the famously tie-eschewing politician promise
to wear it on the day that Greece emerges from its debt crisis.
Mr Tsipras, the head
of the radical Leftist Syriza party, favour an informal look but has said that
he might consider donning a tie if Greece can come to a deal with its
international creditors and end the debt crisis that has produced 50 per cent
youth unemployment and a 25 per cent contraction in the economy.
"I promise I will
wear it when we find a viable solution for Europe," Mr Tsipras said, as
the pair exchanged smiles. Mr Renzi told him: "We hope that when the
moment comes, and Greece emerges from the crisis, Alexis will be able to use
this Italian tie."
The Italian prime
minister said his government would support Greece's efforts to renegotiate its
debt and climb out of a crushing, six-year recession, but that "European
rules" needed to be respected by all EU member states.
There seemed little
chance of Rome and Athens forging a "Club Med", anti-austerity axis
against the richer northern countries of the euro zone, led by Germany. The two
men noted that they were the same age - 40 - and that they represent a new
generation of European leaders.
Mr Renzi joked that he
had been delighted by Mr Tsipras's election last week because he would no
longer be regarded as "a dangerous man on the Left" by the rest of
Europe. Mr Tsipras had instead assumed that mantle, he said. The Greek prime
minister spoke of the need to bring austerity to an end so that his country
could return to "dignity, hope and social justice".
It was time to end
"the politics of fear and uncertainty", he said. He said his
government, barely a week old, needed time in order to come up with a
"programme of economic recovery". The crisis in Greece had hit the
middle classes and the poor, but had left the rich and corrupt untouched, he
said. "Our people have suffered unjustly."
Greece had to convince
its EU partners that austerity had failed and that a push for growth was
"the logical path". Athens and its creditors, the EU and the IMF, had
to find "mutually advantageous solutions" to end Greece's debt burden
and rebuild its crippled economy, the Greek premier said. He insisted that
Greece's creditors and European taxpayers had "nothing to fear" from
his government, a mix of socialists, Marxists and Communists.
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