Greece debt crisis: We are being asked to sell our history, says adviser as Tsipras faces showdown in Athens

Greece faces financial ruin if the agreement made in Brussels early on Monday morning cannot be ratified by both the Greek government

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras speaks with the media after a meeting of eurozone heads of state at the EU Council building in Brussels (AP)

Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, has until Wednesday to convince his party that he did not betray them by signing up to sweeping austerity measures that will see €50 billion-worth of public assets sold off.

Greece faces financial ruin if the agreement made in Brussels early on Monday morning cannot be ratified by both the Greek government and the national parliaments of the Eurozone.

Tispras has an uphill struggle ahead of him. In a 17-hour meeting in which observers said he was “crucified” by European lenders, he agreed to surrender much of Greece’s sovereignty to the watchful eye of the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund to secure €86 billion in emergency funding.

Geogios Daremas, a strategist and adviser to the Greek ministry of Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity, said that selling the country’s assets was an affront. “It’s basically saying sell the memory of your ancestors, sell your history just so we can get something commercial for it.This is an idea to humiliate Greeks,” he said.

A showdown within his own party may see Tsipras leaning on the support of pro-European, opposition parties in the vote on Wednesday to pass the agreement. Snap elections could follow if the Syriza party disintegrates while in power.

The agreement, which will save Greece €13 billion over three years in exchange for another €50 billion loan, is already hastening the splits in the left-wing Syriza party (Getty Images)

Already, some of the reforms Tsipras agreed to have been shunned. Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos told reporters yesterday that his party could not agree to reverse policies on which they were elected in February. “We cannot agree to that,” Kammenos said. “In a parliamentary democracy, there are rules and we uphold them.”