Greeks don’t want snap elections and will punish those who try to force them, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said at an event organized by the National Conferederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE), adding that MPs will have to behave responsibly.
The Premier attacked the main opposition for its persistence on the Greek President issue. “They try to block the country’s path with threats of snap elections, using the election of a new President of the Hellenic Republic as a ‘vehicle’ and violating the spirit of the Constitution.”
He stressed that, for months now, some people have been causing instability and creating uncertainty abroad, which the government dissolved by bringing the presidential election forward by a month and a half. “We didn’t have the right to do anything else. The (European) Commission described the move as a democratic decision. It was an act of responsibility,” Samaras stressed and added that the political scene must be clarified, and MPs have a responsibility to recall what happened, what the repercussions of their actions will be and then take their decision.
“People don’t want elections, the markets don’t want elections, stock markets are falling because they’re afraid of the opposition’s plans,” the Prime Minister noted, reminding his audience that the opposition supports a closed economy and statism, while it threatens to push the country out of the Eurozone.
Samaras underlined that lies were told, including accusations of attempted bribery of MPs to vote for the new President in order to single out those who decide to vote in favor of the government’s candidate. “Ideological terrorism will not succeed. Now they’re spreading rumors that Stavros Dimas (the government’s presidential candidate) will not be a candidate in all three rounds of voting. People will punish the one who is trying to force snap elections,” he said.
“Populism destroyed the country and statism destroyed the economy,” Samaras noted, adding that the country is now entering a new era.
“Some people are giving the ultimate battle to stop it and return us to the bankrupt past. It is the time of truth and responsibility for everyone. What’s at stake these days is normality and growth,” the Prime Minister said in his speech, expressing his certainty that truth and democratic responsibility will win and Greece will quickly move forward.
The Greek Premier then made a brief review of the government’s work and continued to say that in three to four years, Greece will reach one of the top positions in global competitiveness. He said that recession has ended, growth is returning and unemployment is falling steadily. Samaras also underlined that Greece recorded the biggest growth in the third quarter of 2014 in the Eurozone and the country forayed into the markets two years earlier than expected.
The government’s target has always been to exit the bailout program earlier than anticipated and it succeeded, he noted. “Greece is standing on its own feet and some people are trying to cancel that.”
(source: ana-mpa)
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