Interview: Greek people should give Radical Left Coalition strong mandate to negotiate: SYRIZA MP

Greek people should give a strong mandate to the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party so it can negotiate from a position of strength with the country's creditors after the Jan. 25 general elections on the terms of the post-bailout cooperation, deputy Anna Chatzisofia told Xinhua in a recent interview.

After five years of struggling with an acute debt crisis that brought Greeks to the brink of default, the country seems to be a step away from the exit.

The bailout program which kept Greece afloat with European Union and International Monetary Fund rescue loans in return of harsh austerity and reforms expires in late February.

The outcome of the Jan. 25 electoral battle could determine Greece's future. The conservative-led coalition government is calling on voters to opt for stability and not risk a rift with creditors which could lead to chaos, bankruptcy and exit from the eurozone.

SYRIZA, which leads in all opinion surveys, suggests a more aggressive attitude in negotiations with lenders to clinch a new deal that will help heal the deep wounds of harsh austerity.

Which is the dilemma of the ballot box? Exit from the crisis or Grexit by accident?

"The Grexit is an old tale. The dragons here are those talking about Grexit in a bid to scare people. But we have seen this tale before and we did not like it at all. On Jan. 25 we will shift to the Left," she said.

Chatzisofia does not fear any accidents, but fears the ongoing "tragedy". What happened in recent years was a "tragedy", she argued, pointing to the worst humanitarian crisis Greece has witnessed after the World War II.

With over a million Greeks unemployed, 300,000 households with no electricity connection, more than 25,000 homeless and hundreds of thousands with no access to healthcare, this is the major challenge for whoever comes to power.

Why should Greeks vote for SYRIZA?

"With people's support on Jan. 25 hope will be realized. From Jan. 26 people should be by our side so we can go to negotiations with a strong card," she replied.

"The only chance we have to put an end to this humanitarian crisis is to vote for the Left," she stressed.

For Chatzisofia the shift to the Left is the only choice for the entire Europe at the moment.

"Left at this moment is Europe's future. Europe will either shift to the Left or will continue on this extreme austerity path and to the far-Right," she argued pointing to France and other European countries.

In Greece the entrance of the far-Right Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi) party to parliament in the 2012 elections has raised the alarm.

Chatzisofia was not shocked. A hard core of far-Right fascists was always present keeping a low profile in the country, she said. After the outbreak of the debt crisis the "snake broke out of the egg shell."

It is the Left's task to smash its head, she underlined, noting that intolerance and fascism come in several forms.

If the wind of change starts blowing from Greece, and then Podemos in Spain follow and Sin Fein in Ireland and the Left in Slovenia, Europeans can dream of a better future, the Greek MP said.

In case SYRIZA wins without outright majority, as pollsters expect, Chatzisofia sees the Communist party as a potential coalition partner. "We share the same vision for the world," she noted.

National consensus and cooperation with the conservative New Democracy party and the socialists of PASOK which comprise the outgoing ruling coalition after ruling Greece the past four decades, is impossible for her.

"We do not all serve the interests of the same people," she argued, accusing the two parties of serving the interests of a corrupt economic elite.

A writer of popular TV series before becoming MP, Chatzisofia counts also on the power of culture to heal wounds.

"Culture kept this country standing on its feet. And it still does," she said.

Culture suffered dearly since the start of the debt crisis, as well as health and education. Unemployment rates for artists stand on average at 80 percent, she explained.

But despite the economic woes, artists keep creating significant work. For Chatzisofia art is an "answer to madness and depression."

But working for 150 euros a month in some cases just to keep you from going crazy, cannot go on forever. SYRIZA will try to restore artists and culture to the position they deserve in society, she said.

"We do not want artists living as Vincent van Gogh who cut off his ear expecting financial aid from his brother. We want them to live with dignity off their art so they can feel free to create. At SYRIZA we do not fight only for the right to bread but also for the right to roses," she stressed.

The Greek Leftists also count on the support of governments and people across the world if they assume power, she underlined. Endit