Greece interview: what's next for the Tsipras government?

Greece interview: what's next for the Tsipras government?
By Euronews
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Euronews reporter Eleni Rizopoulou speaks to our correspondent in Athens Stamatis Giannisis. ER: Finally we have the long awaited new cabinet. What

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Euronews reporter Eleni Rizopoulou speaks to our correspondent in Athens Stamatis Giannisis.

ER: Finally we have the long awaited new cabinet. What does Alexis Tsipras’s choice of cabinet mean and what does the choice of Yannis Varoufakis for Finance Minister say?

SG: MPs and party members are the backbone of this government, although the key portfolio of defence was taken over by Mr.Tsipras’s government partner, the ultra-conservative Mr. Kammenos.

It is evident that the prime minister’s choices reflect the signal he wants to send both inside Greece and abroad: that Greece has a totally new and different government as well as an entirely different agenda to that of his predecessor the conservative Mr. Samaras.

For example, one key choice is the new minister of finance. Professor Varoufakis is regarded as something of a maverick economist, because he has often expressed controversial views about the Greek debt. That said, he is a internationally acclaimed economist and therefore Tsipras sees him as the right person to defend Syriza’s economic plan at an international level.

ER: Stamatis after the new cabinet is sworn in, what are the first steps, the priorities for the government of Alexis Tsipras?

SG: We will have to wait a few more days before getting a taste of the new government’s political initiatives. First of all, the new parliament has to vote in the new speaker of the House and then the new president of the Republic will be elected.

The election took place because the previous parliament failed to pick a new head of state.

Following that, Mr. Tsipras’s government will have to present its policy statements before parliament, a procedure that requires a three-day debate.

This probably won’t happen before mid-February. That is when we will get a real taste of the new Greek government and its policies.

ER Stamatis thank you.

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