Circles close to Yannis Stournaras responded to an attack by Alexis Tsipras, making pointed references to 2015 and the handling of the economy. The Governor of the Bank of Greece accused the former prime minister of wanting the central bank to remain silent, while earlier Mr. Tsipras had launched a barrage of criticism, claiming that Mr. Stournaras imposed managements of his choosing on every bank.

“I read with interest Mr. Tsipras’s latest literary attempt. His ‘Ithaca’ appears to have the advantage of not including capital controls, closed banks, and a third bailout—at least not in the narrative,” the statement notes pointedly.

According to the same sources, “numbers, however, are far less poetic,” stressing that “in 2015 the country came one step away from a disorderly bankruptcy, with banks suffocating and the economy in free fall.” As they emphasize, “this was not imposed by ‘propagandists’ or ‘groups.’ It was imposed by choices.”

Regarding accusations of political bias, circles close to Mr. Stournaras note: “I am accused of political bias by the very person who believed that the central bank should remain silent when the country’s stability was at stake. If warning about risks is labeled ‘blackmail,’ then the concept of institutional responsibility has indeed been distorted.”

Finally, on the issue of terms in office, they stress that these “are neither a personal ambition nor a literary prize,” adding that “if some are irritated by institutional independence, perhaps it is because they never managed to control it.” They conclude: “History, in any case, is not written with wishes. It is written with balance sheets.”

Tsipras’s attack on Stournaras

Earlier, the former prime minister launched a fierce attack on the Governor of the Bank of Greece in a social media post, prompted by Mr. Stournaras’s interview with the Truth Group.

Mr. Tsipras referred to a “shadowy group bordering on the para-state” and claimed that Mr. Stournaras—Governor of the Bank of Greece for twelve years and former finance minister in the Antonis Samaras government—“rushed to tarnish his own prestige” by participating in what he called a “ring of propagandistic depravity.”

He further linked this stance to the pursuit of a third term as Governor, speaking of an “obvious goal” for the prime minister to “grant” him another six-year term. As he put it, “in order to present his credentials of obedience to Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis,” Mr. Stournaras “proved himself willing even to play the role of an extra in the dark theater of propaganda.”

The former prime minister described as an “abomination” the claims of alleged blackmail by the SYRIZA government regarding Attica Bank, calling them “the epitome of the dismemberment of truth.” He argued that during SYRIZA’s time in office, Mr. Stournaras—“with the assistance of the troika’s pressure”—imposed managements of his choosing on banks, despite the fact that the state at the time held either a majority or a statutory minority in their shareholding structure.

At the same time, he accused Mr. Stournaras of not being an “objective technocratic Governor,” but rather a “political figure–Governor,” marked by political bias, and of opposing his government’s choices at critical moments, particularly on the sustainability and restructuring of debt and Greece’s exit from the bailout programs.

In closing, Alexis Tsipras said he “wholeheartedly” wishes Mr. Stournaras success in his efforts and to be rewarded with a third term—“even with an amendment to the Bank of Greece’s charter so that he may be appointed ‘Governor for life,’” noting sarcastically that “his efforts deserve it.”