Secret meeting between Tsipras and Rubin in Athens

Huge question marks have been created inside and outside SYRIZA by the insistence of the party leadership on developing close contacts with the U.S. factor, especially when Washington has clarified some controversial approaches around critical national issues such as the Greek EEZ.

According to a news story in Eleftherotypia, SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras met in extreme secrecy with U.S. assistant Foreign minister Eric Rubin in Athens on Wednesday, with whom he had also met during his visit to Washington.

In any case, this second meeting within a few days is in itself a question mark regarding the appropriateness of SYRIZA close contact with the Americans.

However, the major question arising from these contacts is the insistence of Washington on a clear warning to Athens not to try any unilateral proclamation of the EEZ, or any other action in this direction, because this would lead to an incident with Turkey. This warning was announced during both meetings betwen Tsipras and Rubin, in Washington and in Athens yesterday, despite the denials  by SYRIZA about the former.

The exhortation of the Americans is that any Greek search should start in areas that cannot be challenged by the Turks, like the southwest of Crete.

Reliable sources estimate that the American exhortations do not have a negative effect on Tsipras’ colleagues. But there is no relevant preparation on the part of SYRIZA about its final stance.

Some feel that Tsipras is negotiating with the Americans, seeking support to resolve the Greek debt and in return, Washington requires an alignment on major national issues.

There are two critical points in the handling of the case by the SYRIZA leadership. First, if aligned with U.S. encouragement-threat, how will the party tolerate a position which will constitute direct relinquishment of sovereignty; And secondly, how will it deal with a possible sudden and dramatic move by Antonis Samaras regarding the EEZ? This second possibility has been discussed and SYRIZA believes that Samaras will focus on national issues, possibly around March, as a pretext to rallying his party with a different agenda from that of the economy. They are talking about haphazard moves, confined simply to creating impressions.