After not quite seven months in office Greece's prime minister has resigned.The outgoing leader, Alexis Tsipras, called for early elections on September 20.His government was torn apart by the recent financial bailout worked out with the European Union to prevent Greece from defaulting on its huge debts.Several members of the governing party refused to back it, saying it robs Greece of its sovereignty and will keep the country in perpetual debt.Joanna Kakissis is on the line with us from Athens. And Joanna, why call elections now?The Greek parliament overwhelmingly approved the bailout earlier this month, and other European parliaments did so this week. Why now?You know, yeah, it seems like a crazy move, doesn't it ―especially since there's actually been some semblance of stability since Greece almost went into complete default last month?But the Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, he's been hinting for weeks that he's going to call early elections. And here's why.His leftist party, Syriza, was elected in January, in part, to end austerity measures,to end bailouts and to end this idea of Europeans overseeing the Greeks, bossing them around.But you know, Eurozone leaders never budged.And they said Greece had to follow their plan, or it got no loans.And the Greek government didn't have a plan B, you know, an alternative plan to finance the country.And the country can't access international markets because it's so hugely in debt. So it needed an alternative plan.So as a result he was backed into a corner.He was forced to sign a bailout with much stricter conditions than he expected.
希腊总理就任不足七个月便提出辞职。即将离职的希腊领导人阿列克西斯・齐普拉斯要求9月20日提前举行大选。近日，希腊政府同欧盟共同制定了金融救助方案以防止希腊发生巨额债务违约，但是齐普拉斯领导的政府因这份金融救助方案产生分裂。希腊执政党内有数名成员拒绝支持这份救助方案，称该方案夺走了希腊的主权，会使希腊永远陷入债务中。乔安娜・卡西斯将从雅典和我们进行连线。乔安娜，为什么现在要求提前举行大选？本月初，希腊政府以压倒性多数票通过了这份救助方案，欧洲其他议会也于本周相继通过该方案。那为什么现在会发生这种情况？看起来这是一项疯狂的举动，是吧？尤其是上个月希腊差点发生债务违约以后，希腊表现出了一些稳定性的迹象。但是希腊总理阿列克西斯・齐普拉斯已经暗示了数周的时间，他将要求提前举行大选。下面来说明一下原因。他所在的希腊左翼政党激进左翼联盟在今年1月的大选中获胜，部分原因是他们要结束希腊的紧缩政策，终止救助计划，结束欧洲领导人监视希腊人并对希腊人颐指气使的想法。但是你知道，欧元区领导人从未让步。他们说，希腊必须要按照他们的计划行事，否则希腊就不能获得贷款。希腊政府没有准备备选计划，他们没有准备为国家提供财政支持的备选方案。由于希腊背负着巨额债务，所以希腊无法进入国际市场。因此希腊需要一个替代计划。这就导致齐普拉斯陷入了困境。他被迫签署了一份比他预想的要严格的多的救助方案。
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