Greek leftist Tsipras sworn in as PM to

fight bailout terms

Greece's President Karolos Papoulias (R) welcomes Alexis Tsipras, Syriza party leader and winner of the Greek parliamentary elections,
before Tsipras' swearing-in ceremony as Greece's first leftist More...

Head of radical leftist Syriza party Alexis Tsipras waves while leaving the party headquarters after winning the elections in Athens,
January 25, 2015.

BY RENEE MALTEZOU AND DEEPA BABINGTON-Mon Jan 26, 2015

(Reuters) - Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras was

sworn in on Monday as the prime minister of a new hardline, anti-bailout government
determined to face down international lenders and end nearly five years of tough
economic measures.
The decisive victory by Tsipras' Syriza in Sunday's snap election reignites fears of new
financial troubles in the country that set off the regional crisis in 2009. It is also the
first time a member of the 19-nation euro zone will be led by parties rejecting Germanbacked austerity.
Tsipras' success is also likely to empower Europe's fringe parties, including other antiausterity movements across the region's economically-depressed south. The trouncing
of the conservatives represents a defeat of Europes middle-ground political guard,
which has dallied on a growth-versus-budget discipline debate for five years while
voters suffered.
"We have an uphill road ahead," Tsipras told President Karolos Papoulias just before

being sworn in as prime minister in a ceremony that eschewed the traditional oath on
a Bible and blessing with basil and water. Tsipras met Greece's Archbishop Ieronymos
to say he planned to take a non-religious oath.
Within hours of victory on a campaign of "Hope is coming!", the 40-year-old Tsipras
sealed a coalition deal with the small Independent Greeks party which also opposes
Greece's EU/IMF aid programme though the two parties are at odds on many social
issues like illegal immigration.
Syriza won 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament, leaving it just two seats short of an
outright majority and in need of a coalition partner. The Independent Greeks won 13
seats.
The alliance is an unusual one between parties on the opposite end of the political
spectrum brought together by a mutual hatred of the 240-billion-euro bailout
programme keeping Greece afloat at the price of budget cuts.
The alliance suggests a hardline stance against Greece's creditors, who have dismissed
Tsipras's demands for a debt writeoff and insisted the country stay on the path of
reforms and austerity to get its finances back on track.
"At first sight this looks like a very strange marriage, but both parties share a strong
opposition to austerity," said Diego Iscaro, an analyst at IHS Global Insight.
"SELF-REINFORCING CRISIS"
Yanis Varoufakis, an outspoken crusader against austerity and a blogger, was expected
to become finance minister when the cabinet is unveiled on Tuesday, senior party
officials said.
"The people of Greece gave a vote of confidence to hope," economist Varoufakis wrote
on his blog. "They used the ballot box, in this splendid celebration of democracy, to put
an end to a self-reinforcing crisis that produces indignity in Greece and feeds Europes
darkest forces."
Reaction from financial markets to Syriza's victory was largely muted, with the euro
recovering from a tumble to an 11-year low against the dollar on initial results. Greek
stocks fell 2.7 percent while 10-year bond yields rose but stayed below the levels seen
in the run-up to the vote.

For the first time in more than 40 years, neither the New Democracy party of Samaras
nor the centre-left PASOK, the two forces that had dominated Greek politics since the
fall of a military junta in 1974, will be in power, beaten by a party that has until
recently always been at the fringe.
Tsipras also intends to talk to the heads of two other parties, the centrist To Potami
and the communist KKE to seek outside support for his coalition.
Together with last week's decision by the ECB to pump billions of euros into the euro
zone's flagging economy despite objections from Germany, Syriza's victory marks a
turning point in the long euro zone crisis.
It signals a move away from the budgetary rigour championed by Germany as the
accepted approach to dealing with troubled economies, though it is unclear the extent
to which Syriza will be able to wring concessions and aid from creditors.
Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said the message from the Greek election
was the need for more growth and jobs, and to find an equilibrium between that and
budget rigour.
But after the euphoria of election night Tsipras faces daunting challenges and can
expect strong resistance to his demands from Germany in particular. A series of
European policymakers urged Syriza not to renege on commitments.
"There is no room for unilateral action in Europe," ECB Executive Board member
Benoit Coeure told Europe 1 radio," saying it was important to play by the "European
rules of the game".
Those who congratulated Tsipras included European Commission chief Jean-Claude
Juncker, who last month broke with tradition of not voicing an opinion on the internal
affairs of a member state by warning Greeks not to vote in "extremist" forces.
With Greece unable to tap the markets because of sky-high borrowing costs and facing
about 10 billion euros of debt payments this summer, Tsipras may find himself with
limited room to fight creditors.
During campaigning, he promised to immediately end the huge budget cuts and heavy
tax rises that have helped send unemployment to over 25 percent and pushed millions
into poverty. But the new prime minister will also need a deal to unlock more than 7
billion euros of outstanding aid to make debt payments in the summer.

(Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, Lefteris Papadimas and George

Georgiopoulos, Writing by James Mackenzie and Deepa Babington; editing by Anna
Willard)
Posted by Thavam