“It was not the happiest time when Alexis Tsipras was offered to President of the Republic”
For the historical moments of the summer of 2015 and the referendum case was spoken by the former President of the Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
Speaking on Nikos Hatzinikolaou’s broadcast on ANT1, Mr. Pavlopoulos described his discussion on the phone with Mr Tsipras about those crucial moments: “The truth is that I was taken aback, because I didn’t know it at all, I didn’t know me at all, I told him “You surprise me, I can’t understand why you make this choice, But I have to tell you one thing, because the moments are critical: as far as the request is concerned, because I know what we will deal with, I know what the Constitution is saying, I can’t deny you, because I don’t have such a legal right. But the time is very short, the next Sunday is 7-8 days. And secondly, it’s the question. “I don’t understand what the question will be”ยป.
Mr Pavlopoulos also revealed: “Juncker was taken aback because he had stayed there to continue the next day, Saturday, the discussions. When he saw what happened and when the referendum was decided on Sunday night he sent a message: “I send you a proposal. Give it to the Prime Minister. Repeat to enter the program again.” When I got the proposal, I gave it to Mr Tsipras, very late on Sunday. He told me that she found her interesting and there were two discussions, Monday and Tuesday, among Maximus and Eurogroup staff. Do you remember Mr. Dragasakis Monday night? When they had this meeting, people did not know what a meeting was, and they asked him what would happen to the referendum, and Mr Dragasakis said “let’s see if the referendum would take place”. Unfortunately, on Tuesday, everything was wrecked and on Wednesday we had capital controls. “
“While I was President of the Republic I didn’t sleep a single night”
The former President of the Republic spoke, among other things, about his political journey, the role of politics in his life, his academic career, but also when he left the country’s highest institutional role.
“What remains to me is that in my political journey I didn’t make the big mistake, because in politics anyone who thinks he didn’t make a mistake – he is wrong. In politics you have to avoid the big mistake and that distinguishes politicians. “initially said Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
Prokopis Pavlopoulos then said: “I became a public law lecturer in my 32nd. I owe Konstantinos Karamanlis to politics. I had said that I would not abandon my academic work, regardless of policy. For me, politics has never been a one -way street and a monoculture. I want to tell young people, not to get involved with politics without having become socially acclaimed before. They will become prisoners of politics, and when you become a prisoner of politics you will do everything to stay in it. While when you have a way out, politics can offer you too. But you should never be bound by this road. “
Prokopis Pavlopoulos also added: “It was not the happiest time when Alexis Tsipras was offered to the President of the Republic. At that moment I was feeling what was coming. If you ask me what is the moment when I felt a satisfaction or a “UF”, it was the moment when I left the Presidency of the Republic on March 13, 2020. When I left there, I did a retrospective and said: Now it’s all over, I’m back in your work again. “