Former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the BBC that Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made “completely unrealistic promises” to voters that he cannot now fulfil.

The high-ranking EU official, who left his post in October, says taht Greek demands were “completely unacceptable to other countries.”

He also blames Greece, under the radical left, of attacking countries trying to help it. He added that poorer countries are lending money to Greece, and pointed out that Greece alone is to blame for its problems of low productivity and previous governments.

On a brighter note, Barroso said nations such as Ireland, Portugal and Spain had come back from financial brink and Greece could do the same. “There is nothing regarding Greece that prevents it being successful, but… bad politics have created a lot of problems for Greece,” he told the BBC.

Though Barroso believes that a Grexit would be negative, he believes that – at this point – it would be less damaging than it once would have been.