The outrageous editorial in The Financial Times Deutschland captured broad TV and radio attention, though it did not make it into the Greek press since it has just been published today.
Supposedly expressing Berlin’s neo-liberal, monetarist position, the paper admonished Greeks to “resist the demagoguery of Alexis Tsipras and Syriza.” “Only with the parties that accept the terms of international creditors will your country be able to remain in the euro,” the paper declared. This unacceptable intervention of the German newspaper was vastly criticized by the Greek political world. Most parties have published announcements strongly opposing foreign intervention attempts in the election.
The provocative article openly advised Greeks to vote for New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, who just happens to be German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fellow conservative. While admitting that ND for decades had wrong-headed policies and shares in the responsibility for today’s misery, it declared that,“The best solution for your country is a coalition government headed by Samaras.” The editorial caused an uproar in Greece, and it seems to be pushing people closer to Tsipras. For most Greeks, this was the latest example of German gall.
The article which was introduced in a very warm way, “Dear Greek men and women,” clearly aimed at pushing Greeks into voting in a way that would further Germany’s financial interest.
FT Deutschland has been known for its efforts to manipulate the German national election outcome every now and then, but is a (negative) surprise that its attempts have ‘expanded’ to other European countries.
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