SYRIZA's Tsipras Fends Off Grexit Suggestions

Greece's main opposition party SYRIZA is not intending to trigger an exit of its country from the Eurozone if it wins the early elections this month, its leader Alexis Tsipras has said.

In a statement of SYRIZA sent out to Greek-language media outlets, Tsipras adds his Coalition of the Radical Left would seek to ensure the Eurozone's stablity instead of disintegrating it.

The party's comments follow last weekend's report of German news weekly Der Spiegel suggesting Chancellor Angela Merkel had stopped objecting to a Greek exit and had started backing the idea that the EU has enough mechanisms at hand to withstand such a development.

Berlin denied this on Monday, as Tsipras also reminds in the statement.

In his words, speculations of a Grexit were fueled by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and the ruling coalition he is heading to prevent the leftist party's victory in the snap poll due on January 25.

Opinion polls in Greece have recently suggested SYRIZA might win, albeit narrowly, the early elections that were called in last month after Parliament failed to elect the country's President three times in a row.

The prospect of SYRIZA winning has pushed plans of Tsipras to abandon the austerity program back on the agenda.

Early in the 2010s Tsipras rose to popularity with the promise to ditch budget cuts Athens has been undergoing for years as part of its international bailout program, a scenario prompting many to suggest the country might have to leave the euro area.

On Monday, however, the European Commission said the step was "legally impossible."