Speaking in a special plenary session before the Greek parliament on occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the 1973 student uprising against the military junta, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras commented that the government was giving a battle to “restore democracy” in the country, which had been crushed by the “memorandums and foreign control”. “From being part of the problem, Greece is becoming part of the solution, which can not be other than security and peace”, he said. Tsipras added that the completion of the second review,. accompanied by a deal on the debt and the admission of Greece in the quantitative easing program would be pivotal in the county’s efforts to exit the economic crisis with society standing on its two feet. The Greek PM claimed the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government had followed a multi pronged approach on foreign policy, transforming Greece from a pariah into a key player in the wider region. He continued by underlining the significant role had played in the refugee crisis, a point acknowledged by US President Barack Obama during his visit in Greece, as Tsipras said. Drawing some parallels from the struggle for democratic rights in the student uprising in 1973, the Greek PM said that the challenges for democracy were still pressing today, but in a different way. “Today the demand for democracy in the current crisis concerns the safeguarding of the social state, the restoration of social cohesion, the productive reconstruction and a return to popular sovereignty.”