PM Tsipras talks about Greek bailout crisis

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras talked to Paul Mason, the economics editor at Channel 4 News, and said his government could have been “braver” during its bailout negotiations with the European Union.

“I think we lost time, and at the end we were out of force and out of money,” he says. “If we knew that we would have made more brave decisions at the beginning”.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was interviewed for the new film series ‘#ThisIsACoup’, a documentary about the Greek crisis, alongside many other figures in Greece’s radical left-wing Syriza government, including former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, ex-speaker of parliament Zoe Konstantopoulou and current finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos.

“If I walked away this night, probably I would be a hero for one night, maybe for two, three but it would be a disaster for the next days and nights – not only for me but for the majority of the Greek people…

“So my heart and soul said ‘go’, but my mind said that I had to find a solution.” Mr. Tsipras says.

The documentary highlights the democratic deficit in EU since an anti-austerity government remains powerless to change economic conditions for their citizens.

“The Greek people believed they could beat austerity by voting against it. Europe gave them a choice: surrender control or we destroy your economy.” says Mr. Mason.