The Greek prime minister’s televised proclamation from the Ionian isle of Ithaca on Tuesday morning, to prominently herald the end of the third (and last) bailout for the country, drew an immediate and sharp response by the political opposition.
Allusions to Homer’s Odyssey and an eponymous poem, “Ithaka”, to exemplify Alexis Tsipras’ commemoration of the end of memorandum era were roundly criticized.
“Today’s new appearance by Mr. Tsipras on (the island of) Ithaca provokes only sadness and anger … He’s again staging fake events, just like he did on the evening of July 23 (2018), when during a live television broadcast, we heard assurances by his ministers that everything was going well, while at the same time dozens of our fellow citizens were burning in Mati,” Mitsotakis said, referring to last month’s deadly wildfire in coastal eastern Attica prefecture.
Fofi Gennimata, the head of a new social democrat grouping in Parliament mostly coalesced around the once formidable PASOK party, charged that Tsipras “fancies himself as a modern-day Odysseus (Ulysses). What he proved to be, however, is a ruthless suitor of power, with a massive cost for Greece and Greeks.”
