Alexis Tsipras is the European Left candidate for president of the European Commission. The Greek politician, who was born in Athens in 1974 and has been the leader of Syriza, the main opposition party in Greece, since 2012, is campaigning on a platform to end austerity and rebuild Europe on a democratic, social and ecological basis.
In an article for the Guardian on his decision to stand, Tsipras wrote:
"The European elections [in] May ... provide an opportunity to start a real dialogue with the people – especially those who feel that no one cares for them – about a new basis for meaningful democracy and human dignity ... We must rebuild solidarity among the young, the workers, the pensioners and the unemployed to break down the new dividing line between Europe's rich and poor."
