President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias on Monday received main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras, congratulating him on his party’s first-place result in Sunday’s EuroParliament elections.
“It was a significant showing, historic for the Left and a significant upset of the political scene,” Tsipras replied. “Up until Saturday night, some people were saying that if the difference [between SYRIZA and New Democracy] was two or three points we would have epidemics, earthquakes and hurricanes. We won by 4.0 percentage points and it is a very nice day outside,” he joked.

Tsipras expressed hope that the days to come will be equally good, “because the expression of the popular verdict gives the opportunity for a more powerful position in Europe”.
Responding to Papoulias’ expression of concern over the rise of extremist forces in Europe, SYRIZA’s leader said the message must be received that Euroscepticism had causes that were driving it and that there must be a better Europe in order to tackle this.
“There must,” Papoulias agreed.

After his meeting with the President of Hellenic Republic, Alexis Tsipras, Head of the Opposition, warned the prime minister against implementing new memoranda, salary cuts, layoffs and auctioning public assets. He also added the Antonis Samaras, due to the government’s precarious position, should not even think about appointing a new Governor of the Bank of Greece and a new EU Commissioner, as these appointments will be binding for the country in the years to come.

More specifically, in the comments he made while leaving the Presidential Mansion, SYRIZA leader spoke about a serious political upset and underlined that this upset is evident not only as a result of SYRIZA’s 4.0 percentage points lead in Sunday’s European elections but also because the parties of the government coalition lost 11 percentage points compared with the 2012 results.
He said that this is a major disharmony and added that no one has the right to make crucial decisions that can be binding for the Greek people in the years to come, noting that the present parliament cannot elect a President.
Tsipras called for general elections and warned the prime minister not to proceed with the appointment of a Bank of Greece governor or the next EU commissioner without having the accord of the country’s biggest political party.