"The mandate of the January 25 elections was to negotiate with lenders the terms of future cooperation. That mandate has been exhausted after the July 12 euro zone summit agreement that paved the way to the bailout," the Greek leader told private Alpha broadcaster.
Tsipras stressed he was proud of the "hard battle" his government gave, despite reservations and criticism over the final result and the content of the third Greek bailout in five years.
The outgoing premier insisted that the new bailout, despite problems, has potential to help Greece overcome the debt crisis and repeated that the alternative, a rift with creditors, would lead to a catastrophic financial meltdown.
"Grexit was never an option for the radical left SYRIZA party, but for the conservative circles in Europe," Tsipras said.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
