Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

 2015: From Hope in Syriza to Surrender

• 25 January 2015: Electoral victory of the radical left coalition (Syriza).

• 27 January 2015: start of the Syriza-Anel government

• 30 January 2015: the press conference given by Yanis Varoufakis (Minister of Finance) and Jeroen Dijsselbloem (President of the Eurogroup) provides an opportunity for the Syriza government and European institutions to publicly express their disagreements, kicking off a first round of ‘negotiations’ leading up to the agreement of 20 February.

• 4 February 2015: The European Central Bank Central Bank The establishment which in a given State is in charge of issuing bank notes and controlling the volume of currency and credit. In France, it is the Banque de France which assumes this role under the auspices of the European Central Bank (see ECB) while in the UK it is the Bank of England.

ECB : http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/Pages/home.aspx took a strong stance against the Tsipras government by refusing to allow Greek banks to continue depositing Greek securities as collateral Collateral Transferable assets or a guarantee serving as security against the repayment of a loan, should the borrower default. for access to liquidity Liquidity The facility with which a financial instrument can be bought or sold without a significant change in price. . As a result, Greek banks saw their costs increase, the Greek state saw its main source of domestic financing decrease, and Greek depositors accelerated the withdrawal of their deposits. This was a veritable declaration of war by the ECB ECB
European Central Bank The European Central Bank is a European institution based in Frankfurt, founded in 1998, to which the countries of the Eurozone have transferred their monetary powers. Its official role is to ensure price stability by combating inflation within that Zone. Its three decision-making organs (the Executive Board, the Governing Council and the General Council) are composed of governors of the central banks of the member states and/or recognized specialists. According to its statutes, it is politically ‘independent’ but it is directly influenced by the world of finance.

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/html/index.en.html on the Tsipras government. The Tsipras government also learned that the ECB would not return the €1.9 billion in profits it had made on Greek securities and had promised to return in 2015.

• 5 February 2015: popular mobilisation in Athens, and on a smaller scale in Paris and other European capitals, in response to the European Central Bank’s power grab;

• 6 February 2015: speech by Zoé Konstantopoulou, upon her election as President of the Hellenic Parliament, in which she stated that she would ‘promote demands for the cancellation of most of the debt’.

• 8 February 2015: Alexis Tsipras’ first policy speech to the Greek Parliament (the Vouli). The Greek Prime Minister confirms that he will immediately begin implementing the Thessaloniki programme, which notably involves ending the second memorandum currently in force and replacing it with a national reconstruction plan.

• 11 February 2015: First official meeting between the Greek government and the Eurogroup, with a view to reaching an agreement required by the European institutions before 20 February, the date of the end of the current memorandum. Varoufakis commits to honouring the obligations contracted by previous governments. The ‘square movement’ calls for rallies in Athens and several other Greek cities. A large demonstration in support of Greece takes place in Frankfurt.

• 12 February 2015: The Tsipras government begins to empty the public coffers and repays €747.7 million to the IMF IMF
International Monetary Fund Along with the World Bank, the IMF was founded on the day the Bretton Woods Agreements were signed. Its first mission was to support the new system of standard exchange rates.

When the Bretton Wood fixed rates system came to an end in 1971, the main function of the IMF became that of being both policeman and fireman for global capital: it acts as policeman when it enforces its Structural Adjustment Policies and as fireman when it steps in to help out governments in risk of defaulting on debt repayments.

As for the World Bank, a weighted voting system operates: depending on the amount paid as contribution by each member state. 85% of the votes is required to modify the IMF Charter (which means that the USA with 17,68% % of the votes has a de facto veto on any change).

The institution is dominated by five countries: the United States (16,74%), Japan (6,23%), Germany (5,81%), France (4,29%) and the UK (4,29%).
The other 183 member countries are divided into groups led by one country. The most important one (6,57% of the votes) is led by Belgium. The least important group of countries (1,55% of the votes) is led by Gabon and brings together African countries.

http://imf.org , while the Troika Troika Troika: IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank, which together impose austerity measures through the conditions tied to loans to countries in difficulty.

IMF : https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html refuses to grant the country any new credit, with the aim of making the situation untenable.

• 16 February 2015: Announcement of preparations to launch a commission to audit Greece’s debt.

• 18 February 2015: Election by parliament of the conservative Prokopis Pavlopoulos as President of the Republic. It was Alexis Tsipras who convinced the Syriza parliamentary group to propose and elect this establishment figure as a sign of continuity with the previous regime and appeasement.

• 20 February 2015: The president of the Eurogroup, Dutch Labour politician Jeroen Dijsselbloem, informs Varoufakis that the €11 billion balance Balance End of year statement of a company’s assets (what the company possesses) and liabilities (what it owes). In other words, the assets provide information about how the funds collected by the company have been used; and the liabilities, about the origins of those funds. of the Bank Recapitalisation Fund (FHSF), on which the Tsipras government was counting to fulfil some of its election promises, is going to Luxembourg instead of being made available to Greece. Varoufakis also learns that the final tranche (€7.2 billion) of the loan granted to Greece by the Troika under the memorandum will probably not be paid out. Varoufakis signs the Eurogroup communiqué setting out the framework for negotiations in the coming months: this is the first capitulation and the abandonment of the main points of Syriza’s programme.

• 23 February 2015: Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis sends a letter to the President of the Eurogroup outlining the list of reforms proposed under the 20 February agreement. This letter, as revealed by the Greek press on the same day, was largely drafted by Declan Costello of the European Commission.
• 24 February 2015: stormy meeting of the Greek government
• 25 February 2015: prolonged debate within the Syriza parliamentary group, with a third of MPs opposing the 20 February agreement
• 27 February 2015: Varoufakis signs a letter drafted by the Troika, an act of submission. This is the first capitulation. Read: The first capitulation of Tsipras and Varoufakis (Part 8)

• 28 February-1 March 2015: first meeting of Syriza’s central committee after the elections. The amendment presented by the Left Platform rejecting the 20 February agreement and the 23 February list of reforms obtains 41% of the votes.

• Early March 2015: Varoufakis proposes to the Chinese authorities that they buy the Greek railways and complete the purchase of the port of Piraeus. The Chinese are not interested in the railways.

• 6 March 2015: Greece repays €299 million to the IMF.

• 13 March 2015: Greece repays €336 million to the IMF.

• 16 March 2015: Greece repays €560.8 million to the IMF.

The public coffers continue to empty.

17 March 2015: press conference at the Greek parliament to announce the creation of the Truth Committee on Public Debt. This commission is created by the President of the Greek Parliament, Zoé Konstantopoulou. The scientific coordination of the commission is entrusted to Éric Toussaint (Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt, CADTM).

• 18 March 2015: Greek Parliament votes on the Tsipras government’s first law, devoted to a package of social measures in favour of the poorest people and the creation of a secretariat to fight corruption

• 20 March 2015: Greece repays €336.5 million to the IMF.

• 1 April 2015: Greek Parliament President Zoe Konstantopoulou, with the support of Alexis Tsipras, creates a commission on Germany’s war reparations to Greece.

• 3 April 2015: The cabinet decides to announce to the IMF that Greece will suspend debt payments and sends Varoufakis to Washington to explain this decision to Lagarde and make it public.

• 4 April 2015: Inaugural session of the Truth Committee on Public Debt, created by Greek Parliament President Zoe Konstantopoulou. Attending this inaugural session are the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic, the President of Parliament and the majority of members of the government, including the Minister of Finance. The session is introduced by the President of Parliament, Éric Toussaint and the President of the Republic.

• 5 April 2015: Varoufakis arrives in Washington and accepts Tsipras’ order to refrain from announcing the suspension of debt repayments to the IMF.

• 8 April 2015: Alexis Tsipras and Vladimir Putin meet to discuss economic partnerships, particularly major joint projects in the energy sector. Putin does not commit to any concrete assistance. He does not want to contradict the German government, which wants the progressive experiment in Greece to fail.

• 9 April 2015: Greece repays €448.6 million to the IMF.

• 24 April 2015: at the Eurogroup meeting in Riga, the negotiations are deemed to have failed, and the payment of a final tranche of aid (€7.2 billion) provided for under the 20 February agreement is postponed. While the Greek government has made huge concessions, European leaders have made none and are suffocating the country.

• 27 April 2015: Under pressure from the Troika, Yanis Varoufakis is replaced by Euclid Tsakalotos as coordinator of the Greek negotiating team.

• 11 May 2015: Eurogroup meeting in Brussels. The Greek side agrees to open up the energy market to competition, largely abolish reduced VAT rates (which helped the poorest Greeks to survive) and continue negotiations. Discussions stall, particularly on the issue of pension and labour market reforms. The Troika wants to go further in its anti-social attacks.

• 12 May 2015: Greece, running out of resources, nevertheless repays €747.7 million to the IMF. The IMF found a way to get its money back: it used an account opened by Greece with the IMF and paid €650 million into it, considered as loans to Greece. Greece used these to repay the IMF, adding the difference.

• 15 May 2015: a statement from Syriza’s political secretariat calls for the government’s ‘red lines’ to be defended through popular mobilisations in Greece and Europe

• 24 May 2015: meeting of Syriza’s central committee. The amendment tabled by the Left Platform criticising the course of the negotiations and the government’s strategy, calling for unilateral measures to effectively implement the Thessaloniki programme, obtained 44% of the votes.

• 3 June 2015: summoned by J-Cl. Juncker, President of the European Commission, Tsipras agrees to travel to Brussels on 3 June and confirms that he agrees to commit to a primary budget surplus of 3.5% for ten years, which is completely at odds with the Thessaloniki programme and untenable for a country that wants to break with austerity. But the Troika wants more: it demands a further reduction in pensions (in particular the abolition of the EKAS allowance for pensioners on very low pensions) and an increase in VAT to 24% for certain products and services. In restaurants, the Troika wants VAT to rise from 13% to 23%.

• 4 June 2015: with Greece due to make a further repayment of €305 million to the IMF, the latter proposes that all payments due in June, totalling €1,532.9 million, be paid in a single instalment on 30 June 2015. This puts maximum pressure on Greece to agree to sign a new capitulation before the end of the second memorandum, which expires on 30 June 2015.

• 5 June 2015: Faced with these new demands expressed by the Troika on 3 June, Tsipras decides not to attend a meeting convened in Brussels on 5 June and addresses the Greek parliament, denouncing the Troika’s demands.

• 13 June 2015: Reopening of the public radio and television channel ERT, which had been closed in June 2013. Tsipras and Pappas, his minister in charge of the media, put an establishment figure at its head, causing discontent among those who expected a radio and television station that would pursue a policy of independence, investigation and critical scrutiny.

• 17-18 June 2015: The Truth Committee on Public Debt presents its report and conclusions. All the debt claimed by the Troika is identified as odious, illegitimate, illegal and unsustainable. The committee recommends that the government repudiate the debt through a unilateral sovereign act. The Prime Minister is present, along with many ministers. Varoufakis, however, although present in Athens on 17 June, does not attend. See the video: Eric Toussaint’s speech at the presentation of the preliminary report of the Truth Committee

• 18 June 2015: new Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on Greece: the Troika continues to put pressure on the Greek government.

• 22 June 2015: Tsipras makes a new concession: the government is prepared to make further significant cuts to pensions, but the Troika wants more.

• 20-26 June 2015: week of action by European social movements in support of the Greek people. Demonstrations, bringing together several thousand people, take place in many European cities, including around thirty in France.

• 24-26 June 2015: Tsipras is in Brussels for negotiations. Despite the government’s concessions, the Troika refuses to sign a new agreement. However, both Tsipras and Varoufakis are prepared to accept a new memorandum with the Troika, even if they do not say so publicly in Greece.

• 27 June 2015: Following the failure of negotiations in Brussels, Alexis Tsipras calls a referendum for 5 July on the creditors’ latest proposal.
The ECB immediately ensures that the government has to decide to close the banks from Monday 29 June.

• 29 June 2015: Juncker, President of the European Commission, denounced the referendum and called on the Greek people in barely veiled terms to vote ‘Yes’ in order to ‘avoid committing suicide’. This intervention may have had the opposite effect to that intended.

• 30 June 2015: Benoît Cœuré, Vice-President of the ECB, announces that if the majority of Greeks vote ‘No’ (“Oxi” in Greek), expulsion from the eurozone is likely, whereas if the Greeks vote ‘Yes’, the Troika will come to Greece’s aid.

• 30 June 2015: Greece is unable to repay the IMF due to a lack of available resources. The coffers are empty.

• 3 July 2015: as part of the growing popular mobilisation in favour of a ‘No’ (‘Oxi’) vote, tens of thousands of demonstrators gather in Syntagma Square. Supporters of the ‘Yes’ vote, who also called for mobilisation, were much less numerous.

 5 July 2015: victory for the ‘No’ vote in the referendum, with 61.31% of the vote

• 6 July 2015: Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis resigns and is replaced by Euclid Tsakalotos, who had been leading the negotiations on his behalf since the end of April, assisted by Georges Chouliarakis. In his public explanation of his resignation, Varoufakis states: ‘I will therefore unhesitatingly support the Prime Minister, the new Finance Minister and the government.’

Jacques Lew, the US Secretary of the Treasury, called Tsipras by telephone to pressure him into accepting a new memorandum on the terms demanded by the Troika and rejected by the Greek people. François Hollande did the same.

Tsipras met with the parties that had called for a ‘Yes’ vote and worked with them to develop a position in line with the Troika’s demands, even though these had been rejected by the majority of the people in the previous day’s referendum.

• 7 July 2015: Juncker was downright insulting at the summit held in Brussels that day. In the presence of Alexis Tsipras, he declares: ‘A question was put to the Greek people about something that does not exist. Perhaps you would be kind enough to explain to me in detail what question was put to the Greeks – unless that is too much to ask.’ Tsipras replies that the government is ready to negotiate.

• 8 July 2015: Tsipras puts forward a proposal similar to the one rejected in the referendum: further pension cuts, accelerated privatisation, VAT increases, a primary budget surplus of 3.5%, etc.

• 8 July 2015: There is strong opposition within the Syriza parliamentary group.

• 10 July 2015: The Greek parliament votes in favour of the proposal that Tsipras has drawn up with the agreement of the IMF and the ECB, as well as the parties that lost the referendum. The right-wing parties vote in favour (except Golden Dawn) as do a majority of Syriza MPs (with the exception of Zoe Konstatopoulou, the six ministers who are members of Syriza’s Left Platform and several other MPs). Varoufakis does not attend parliament in order to avoid taking part in the vote.

• 11 July 2015: while the IMF and the ECB agreed with the Greek proposal they had helped to draft, several ministers and heads of state wanted to impose heavier sacrifices.

• 13 July 2015: following a summit meeting of eurozone heads of state and government, the Greek government agrees to enter into a process leading to a third memorandum, with tougher conditions than those rejected in the 5 July referendum. On the subject of debt, the text clearly states that there will be no reduction in the amount of Greek debt: “The Eurozone summit emphasises that there can be no nominal haircut on the debt. The Greek authorities reaffirm their unequivocal commitment to honouring their financial obligations to all their creditors, in full and on time.”

• 13 July 2015: #THISISACOUP, this hashtag is tweeted 377,000 times and goes around the world in a matter of hours to protest against the Troika’s diktat on Greece.

• 15 July 2015: Demonstration in Syntagma Square by supporters of the No vote opposed to the 13 July agreement, leading to police repression. A letter signed by 109 members (out of 201) of Syriza’s central committee rejects the 13 July agreement, calling it a coup d’état, and calls for an emergency meeting of the central committee. 15-16 July: vote in Parliament, with the votes of the three pro-Troika parties, New Democracy, Pasok and To Potami, but without the votes of 39 Syriza MPs (32 against, including Varoufakis, 6 abstentions, 1 absence), on a first package of austerity measures concerning VAT and pensions, required by the 13 July agreement. 17 July: following the 13 July agreement, the European Commission announces the release of a new €7 billion loan. Alexis Tsipras reshuffles his government, dismissing two ministers from the Left Platform, Panagiotis Lafazanis and Dimitris Stratoulis.

• 20 July 2015: repayment of €3.5 billion to the European Central Bank and €2 billion to the International Monetary Fund.

• 22-23 July 2015: Parliament votes on the second set of immediate measures demanded by the European institutions, containing institutional measures necessary for the implementation of the third memorandum. Among Syriza MPs, 31 vote against and 5 abstain. Varoufakis votes in favour!

• 30 July 2015: Syriza Central Committee meeting. Demands, supported in particular by the Left Platform, for a meeting of the Syriza congress before the agreement is signed and for a referendum within the party on the continuation of negotiations are rejected, leading several members of the Central Committee to resign.

(CC - Flickr : Maxime De Ruyck)

• 13 August 2015: on the initiative of the Left Platform, ten leaders of left-wing political parties call for popular mobilisation and the formation of a new political force, outside Syriza, in opposition to the Tsipras government’s policy and the third memorandum.

• 14 August 2015: vote in the Greek Parliament on the third memorandum. Yes: 222 votes. No: 64 votes (including 32 Syriza). Abstentions: 11 votes (including 10 Syriza). Absent from the vote: 2 (Syriza).

• 20 August 2015: repayment of €3.2 billion to the ECB for securities it purchased in 2010-2012 at 70% of their face value and on which it received interest Interest An amount paid in remuneration of an investment or received by a lender. Interest is calculated on the amount of the capital invested or borrowed, the duration of the operation and the rate that has been set. of 6.1% each year on the total face value, i.e. a real return of nearly 10%.

• 20 September 2015: early elections. Syriza remains the leading electoral force and Tsipras forms a new government.

• From August 2015 to August 2018: implementation of the third memorandum with a long list of new austerity measures and social cutbacks.

 2019 : Electoral defeat of Syriza and return of the right to government

• European elections on 26 May 2019: victory for New Democracy.

• Two-round municipal and regional elections (26 May and 2 June 2019): victory for New Democracy, which takes control of 12 of the 13 regions (Crete remains under the control of Syriza, allied with Pasok) and most of the country’s major cities, including Athens and Thessaloniki. Patras, on the other hand, is retained by the KKE, the Greek Communist Party, which won the votes of Syriza, even though the KKE never called on its supporters to vote for Syriza.

• Early elections on 7 July 2019: victory for New Democracy. The party led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis won 40% of the vote and secured an absolute majority in parliament. Syriza won 31.5% of the vote. Golden Dawn no longer has any representation in parliament. A new far-right party, Greek Solution (EL), entered parliament. The party created by Varoufakis enters parliament with nine MPs (3.4% of the vote), while the Communist Party wins 15 seats with just over 5% of the vote. Course of Freedom (Plefsi Eleftherias, PE), the party led by Zoé Konstantopulou, narrowly misses the 3% threshold and fails to win any seats.

 2021 : Deepening of Syriza’s degeneration

• October 2021: 3^rd Syriza Congress. Tsipras’s leadership group imposes a “limitless expansion” that transforms SYRIZA into a “Progressive Alliance,” bringing together social-liberal and even right-wing leaders (Antonaros, Spiliotopoulos, etc.). Tsipras obtains a change in the party’s statutes. The President and Central Committee can be elected directly by party “friends” and members, who can vote on one condition: paying 2 euros!
• December 2021: Nikos Androulakis wins the internal elections within PASOK and becomes leader of the Social Democratic Party, following the death of the previous President, Fofi Gennimata.

 2023: Train disaster, shipwreck of migrants, new victory of the right and election of a former banker as head of Syriza

• On February 28, 2023, a train accident occurs near Tempi, between Athens and Thessaloniki, killing 57 passengers. This disaster aroused immense emotion and anger among the population. Numerous demonstrations were organized in the following weeks, bringing together tens of thousands of people. The protesters denounced the neglect of the Greek railway system, partly privatized at the request of the European Union as part of the public debt crisis, and more generally “the decay of the public sector.”

• June 14, 2023. The terrible sinking of an overcrowded trawler, the Adriana, off the coast of Pylos, a small town in the Peloponnese, in the maritime zone under Greek responsibility (to use an official term: the Search and Rescue Region (SSR) under Greek responsibility). The vessel was carrying more than 750 passengers, mainly from Syria, Pakistan, and Egypt. Only 104 people survived; 82 bodies were recovered, of which only 58 have been identified. The shipwreck left more than 650 dead. The government refused to accept any responsibility for this tragedy, even though the Greek Coast Guard bore the brunt of the blame. Under pressure from humanitarian organizations and the victims’ families, on Friday, May 23, 2025, the prosecutor of the Maritime Court of Piraeus, Greece, finally made a historic decision. After a nearly two-year preliminary investigation, the prosecutor concluded that 17 Coast Guard officers should face criminal prosecution.

• June 2023 elections: New Democracy wins again, obtaining 40.50%. Kyriakos Mitsotakis remains Prime Minister and holds an absolute majority in parliament with 158 out of 300 MPs. Syriza loses ground, obtaining only 18% of the vote and 47 MPs, compared to 86 in 2019. The social-liberal PASOK party obtains 12% and 32 seats. The Communist Party (KKE) obtains 7.7% and 21 MPs (in 2019, it had 15). The far-right Greek Solution party obtains 4.4%, but the combined results of the various far-right parties reach around 15%. The list supported by Varoufakis does not pass the 3% mark; it obtains only 2.5% and no MPs. Course of Freedom (Plefsi Eleftherias, PE), Zoe Konstantopoulou’s party, obtained 3.2% and 8 MEPs.

• In the European elections, the right-wing party that has led the government since 2019 obtained only 28.3%. Syriza continued its decline and moved further right, obtaining only 15%. The social-liberal PASOK obtained 12.8%. The Communist Party (KKE) obtained 9.35% (an improvement). The far-right Greek Solution party obtained 9.3%. Course of Freedom (Plefsi Eleftherias, PE), Zoe Konstantopoulou’s party, obtained 3.2% and one MEP. The list supported by Varoufakis obtained 2.5% and no MEPs.

• June 29, 2023: Following his party’s electoral defeat, Tsipras was forced to resign.

• September 24, 2023: Stefanos Kasselakis is elected president of Syriza, in the midst of its downturn. He is a former trader who worked in the United States for five years for the investment bank Goldman Sachs. A few months before being elected president of Syriza, he was not a member and was living in Miami, where he did business in shipping. Kasselakis asserts that the model for Syriza is the Democratic Party in the United States.

 2024 : Final crisis of Syriza

• September 8, 2024: The Syriza Central Committee forces Kasselakis to resign. Two months later, Kasselakis and some friends leave Syriza to create the Democratic Movement.

 2025 : New popular mobilizations, criminal prosecutions against the heads of the coast guard

• February 28, 2025: Huge mobilization two years after the train tragedy of February 28, 2023. More than 260 demonstrations took place in cities and towns. The largest demonstrations took place in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Volos, and Heraklion. Trade unions, student associations, school communities, and local organizations took to the streets across the country. Economic activity ground to a halt, and shops closed their doors. Outside Greece, there were 120 demonstrations around the world.

• In the first half of 2025, in all opinion polls on voting intentions, in the event of early elections, Syriza would receive significantly less than 10%. Syriza would come in sixth, behind the right-wing New Democracy, followed by Course of Freedom (Plefsi Eleutherias), Zoe Kostantopoulou’s party, and PASOK, which are competing for second place, the far-right Greek Solution (in fourth place), and the Communist Party (KKE, in fifth place). To get an idea of the results of opinion polls on voting intentions: https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/greece/ According to the Politico website, on June 23, 2025, in the event of elections, New Democracy (= the right in government) would obtain 31%, PASOK 14%, Zoe Kostantopoulou’s party Freedom Path (Plefsi Eleutherias) would obtain 11% (down from April 2025 it obtained 15% and ahead of PASOK which obtained 13%), the extreme right EL (Greek Solution) would obtain 9%, the PC (KKE) 8%, Syriza, 4%, MERA25 of Yanis Varoufakis, also 4%. Another site regarding voting intentions: https://politpro.eu/en/greece/polls/64930/alco/2025-06-14 This site contains the results of a poll published on June 14, 2025. See also https://dimoskopiseis.gr/greek-polls/ All these results should be taken with great caution. If there are no early elections, the next general elections in Greece will take place in 2027.

The author thanks Antonis Ntavanellos, Tassos Anastassiadis, Yorgos Mitralias, and Yannis Thanassekos for their review and suggestions. The author is solely responsible for the opinions expressed in this document and any errors.