Greek government-debt crisis

Wednesday's televised debate between party leaders ahead of the May 21 elections will not "make any difference if it's just a series of parallel monologues," SYRIZA's Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday, accusing the prime minister of dodging a one-on-one debate with the main opposition leader.

MeRA25 was not founded in 2018 in order to play a backseat role in a government led by Alexis Tsipras, the head of the radical left party, Yanis Varoufakis, indicated on Tuesday, ruling out the possibility of joining a coalition with SYRIZA.

The main opposition party is bracing for a defeat in the May 21 polls and PASOK has gone back to the "bad unionist" days of the 1980s, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday, insisting that an outright victory for the ruling conservatives is the only way forward for the country.

With the election campaign entering the final stretch, the confrontation between ruling New Democracy and PASOK has also intensified, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in all his recent interviews, having particularly harsh words for Nikos Androulakis.

Alpha Bank, Greece's third-largest lender by market value, on Monday posted a 24% rise in first-quarter net profit on higher interest income.

Alpha Bank, which is 9% owned by Greece's HFSF bank rescue fund, said net profit came in at 162 million euros, up from €131 million in the first quarter last year.

The first agreement was reached on Monday by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras for a one-on-one debate in view of the second election, in case the polls of May 21 do not produce a government. 

"In the next election, because there is indeed a bonus, of course there should be a debate," the ruling New Democracy president told ANT1 TV. 

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday that PASOK, under the leadership of Nikos Androulakis, is closer to SYRIZA than to New Democracy, while reiterating his conviction that his conservative party will secure an absolute majority in the upcoming general election.

As the election period enters the final stretch, the parties are considering alternative scenarios for the outcome of the May 21 ballot and their handling of the crucial phase of the exploratory mandates that will follow, with ruling conservative New Democracy maintaining a clear poll lead over leftist SYRIZA and center-left PASOK moving into double-digit percentages. 

Walter Heller, an economist who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, used to quip that "an economist is a man who, when he finds something works in practice, wonders if it works in theory." Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's former finance minister and now leader of the MeRA25 political party must be a great economist considering that he wants to replace the euro, a currency which actuall

The president of SYRIZA - Progressive Alliance, Alexis Tsipras, addressed a new invitation on Saturday to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for a televised debate between the two men.