“The answer to citizens’ lack of trust is not anti-politics, nor post-politics which focuses on “going viral” emphasized on Wednesday Alexis Tsipras at EuroJam 2024. It is an event organized every year on the occasion of Europe Day by the organization “Tu was für Europa” (Do something for Europe).

“Europe must actively support peace and tackle inequalities if it wants to be strong. Anti-politics is not the answer to the crises, meta-politics is not the answer to the rise of the extreme right. To mobilize citizens for progressive policies that will improve their lives and to fight the battle of values” pointed out the former prime minister and former president of SYRIZA.

“We didn’t manage to make it neither another Europe nor another Greece. That’s why we have to keep fighting. Because this is a common struggle. Not only for governments,” he noted.

The key points of the former prime minister’s speech at Eurojam 2024:

  • The struggle for another Europe – one that is both strong and social – must continue. Not only because it is possible, but also because today it is more necessary than ever.
  • In the field of democratic institutions, dealing with disinformation is not enough. We are faced with a whole network of far-right forces that reproduce ideas both outside and inside the parties of the traditional right.
  • We have to fight the battle of values. For tolerance and support of pluralism. For a fair immigration policy, based on respect for international law. For the rule of law.
  • In Greece, we have seen what happens when the rule of law is undermined. In Greece with the biggest wiretapping scandal in Europe or the death of 600 refugees in the sea of ​​Pylos last year. As in Brussels with Qatargate, or when European officials are accused of corruption.
  • Every day we see citizens who have lost their trust in national and European politics move from abstention, to anti-politics, to the extreme right. We must make it clear that the answer is not opposition. Neither is metapolitics that focuses on “going viral” instead of mobilizing citizens around progressive policies. Our goal should be to bring citizens closer to politics and politics closer to citizens.
  • To proceed immediately with the changes we know we need today: First, by creating a permanent European instrument to issue common debt, to support public goods such as health, education, and research. Second, by increasing the EU’s own resources by effectively taxing wealth. Given that 10% of Europeans own 67% of European wealth. Thirdly, we don’t just need a strong industrial policy to benefit the already privileged regions of Europe, but a strong financial tool for regional industrial policy, with the aim of also addressing regional and social inequalities.
  • We are experiencing two wars in our neighborhood and Europe is not playing any decisive role in ending them. Two wars that contribute more and more to a climate of insecurity, which paves the way for far-right policies and anti-Europeanism.
  • A Europe that identifies with American priorities even when they are at the expense of its own interests, is a Europe without a future.
  • Europe must be at the forefront of supporting peace, international law, as well as multilateral diplomacy, in a multipolar world.
  • At the economic level, Europe’s business-as-usual logic must be ended. It is disastrous to wait until the next crisis to develop – after the crisis – the institutions we needed before it.
  • I am proud that as a government we fought for many of these and achieved some, under extremely difficult circumstances. We did not succeed in creating another Europe or another Greece. That’s why we have to keep fighting. Because this is a common struggle. Not just for governments. But also for the citizens and peoples of Europe.
  • The next European elections are a turning point. Either they will take us forward, if the progressive forces are strengthened. Or they will take us back. The struggle for another Europe – one that is both strong and social – must continue. Not only because it is possible, but also because today it is more necessary than ever.