Following Syriza's election victory, a year ago, some Western leaders and
media pundits began to speak of the party’s dangerous foreign policy pursuits.The
government's expressed interest in the strengthening Greek-Russian relations, as
well as relations with China, in an apparent effort to find some way to boost
the Greek economy, had provoked almost hysterical reactions. A loan from Russia
or China seemed a more favorable alternative to any new eurozone bailout with
all its unpopular measures and reforms attached. Just before his inauguration
as Prime Minister on January 26, Tsipras first held meetings with the Russian
and Chinese ambassadors in Athens.
Putin met Tsipras two times in Russia and energy minister Panayiotis Lafazanis
worked hard to deepen the relations between Greece and Russia in the energy
sector.
For some, the fears of a Russia-Greece axis were real, and they drew
support for their reasoning from the late Samuel Huntington's thesis on
"the clash of civilizations", which asserts that orthodoxy places
Greece in Russia's camp. Moreover, a global survey by the Pew
Research Center from September 2013, found that 63% of Greeks held favorable
views of Russia. For about six months, during the negotiations with
international creditors and the German leadership over reforms needed to avoid
bankruptcy, foreign policy under Syriza
was to be at odds with EU’s foreign policy on a broad range of issues, such as:
·
EU sanctions against Russia
over Ukraine -on becoming foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias questioned
the rationale and effectiveness of EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.
·
The reversal of an earlier Russian initiative for a
pipeline to Europe called‘‘South Stream’’and a new
gas pipeline to channel Russian gas to Europe through Turkey, and its
replacement with an American initiative for a pipeline from Azerbaijan.
·
A new “Annan plan” for Cyprus,
under the auspices of NATO, whichwould eliminate the sovereignty
of the Cyprus Republic while facilitating the creation of an energy triangle in
the East Mediterranean linking Israel, Turkey and Cyprus.
·
The recognition
of Kosovo as an independent state, as Greece along with four other EU countries
-Cyprus, Romania, Spain, and Slovakia—does not recognize the breakaway former
Yugoslavian province.
·
A solution to FYROM’s name, so that this country,
along with Montenegro joins NATO at the Warsaw Summit (8-9 July, 2016).
