Greek elections 2015: German politicians comment on SYRIZA lead in elections

Bodo Ramelow, prime minister of the Free State of Thuringia, expressed his congratulations, to which Tsipras responded that "this is not a victory just for SYRIZA, but a new start for the peoples of Europe."

German politicians continued to publicise their views on the apparent electoral victory of SYRIZA, with MEP Bernd Lucke, founding member of the party Alternative for Germany (AfD), who supported a "haircut" of the Greek debt followed by the country's exit from the eurozone, which he saw as the only way of dealing with economic problems and mass unemployment. "SYRIZA does not want to cast doubt on the euro," he said, "but he demands a debt write-off and further credits; these two don't go together."

Angelika Niebler, head of the European Parliament's CSU Group, said that a new "haircut" is "not realistic" because it will not resolve problems. "Greece must continue its structural reforms and bring its budget back to health," she said.

Gianni Pattella, president of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament, called on SYRIZA to create an alliance with a European focus, adding that the renegotiation of the Greek debt must not be seen as a taboo topic. Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) head in Brussels, Herbert Reul, ruled out a new haircut and said "Greece must continue on its part of reforms, if they do not want to risk an exit from the eurozone."

In statements to the newspaper "Rheinische Post," Anton Hofreiter, co-chair of the Green Party faction in the German parliament said that the governments of Greece and Germany along with the EU must find a way out "to give people in Greece a future," and supported a haircut under terms, and in exchange with social and economic reforms in Greece.

Greens member of German parliament Sven-Christian Kindler said in "Handelsblatt" that the haircut in the European public sector under controllablel terms would be a way out.