Greece-EU: Compromise but how and when?

An unusually high percentage - over 70 percent - of people support the tough stance adopted by the Alexis Tsipras government toward Greece's creditors. And while the conservatives of the main opposition New Democracy are eagerly waiting in the wings to watch the new government perform a spectacular backpedalling action on its pre-election promises, the first steps of the Syriza-Anel government showed nothing of the sort.

On the contrary, the new government carried out its pre-election discourse with a stronger determination. This was evident not only by the much publicized European tour of Economy Minister Yanis Varoufakis but also by the statements of PM-elect Tsipras and the rest of his ministers at home.

The pace, the energy and the rhetoric of the election campaign continued after Jan. 25. Probably expressing a general impression, Martin Schultz, the president of the European Parliament, sounded worried in an interview with the newspaper Tagesspiegel: "Tsipras is a logical man with whom one can discuss. But he has to leave the role of the politician in an election campaign and realize that he has become a prime minister."

The first post-election opinion poll, conducted by the University of Macedonia, showed that not only the governments' voters approve of the tough government's stance, but so do over 40 percent of those who voted for the opposition. 

Popular approval for the new government was shown last week when the European Central Bank announced it would not accept Greek government bonds until a new agreement on the management of the country's huge debt is agreed. Large crowds chanted "We are not going to be blackmailed" outside the Parliament building in the absence of police, based on the orders of the new minister. ...