Alexis Tsipras

"We don't claim that there is plenty of money. Greek people are not asking for money. They are asking for work and the ability to make a living."

"I want to be honest with you. We did not achieve the agreement we expected before the January elections... I feel the deep ethical and political responsibility to put to your judgment all I have done, successes and failures."

"What's needed is patience and composure. The bank deposits of the Greek people are fully secure. The same applies to the payment of wage and pension — they are also guaranteed."

"Sophocles taught us that the greatest of all human laws is justice… and I think that is something we have to remember."

"Millions of Europeans looked with hope to this country, and it was Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza government (elected that January) [2015] that had the responsibility for keeping that window open, and for opening it up further for others. What these millions wanted a break from was not even true neoliberalism, but what I would call bankruptocracy — a new regime in which the greatest power was wielded by the most bankrupt bankers. Tsipras’s surrender in July 2015 closed that window of opportunity... Ever since he surrendered to the troika, Tsipras... dilemma put to progressives: “Who do you want to torture you — an enthusiastic torturer, or someone like me who doesn’t want to torture you but will do it to keep his job?” This was his line in September 2015 [in that year’s second general election, after Syriza caved to the troika]. But four years later, after pushing through the most naked, harshest austerity policies anywhere in Europe... he can no longer blackmail progressives with lesser-evil arguments... Can you believe that Tsipras has become best buddies with Benjamin Netanyahu?"

"I once spoke to a politician, a man that I respect and I will say the name: Alexis Tsipras. And speaking of this and the accords not to let [migrants] in, he explained the difficulties to me, but in the end, he spoke to me from the heart and said this phrase: ."