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Greek PM Tsipras Says Economy Will Recover, Country Unable to Manage Refugee Flow

tsiprasGreek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he is optimistic that the economy will recover soon, but Greece is unable to deal with the refugee crisis alone.
Tsipras spoke in an extended interview on Star television on Monday night. He said that the International Monetary Fund should not participate in Greece’s third bailout.
“I was not in favor of the IMF’s participation in the program, but I had to accept it in order to reach an agreement,” he explained.
Tsipras stressed the importance of a quick completion of the bailout program review, saying that Greece fully respects the agreement. the completion of the review will pave the way for the discussion on debt relief. “The first program review will give the green light for the disbursement of funds and a large part will be given for servicing the public debt. The main thing is, however, economic growth,” he stated.
Regarding capital controls, the prime minister estimated that they will be lifted in the second half of the year. “After the first program review and the debt relief, the country will turn the page,” he noted.
“Refugee problem is beyond our powers”
“We have to deal with a problem that goes beyond the powers of a country,” Tsipras said about the refugee crisis.
The prime minister admitted that Greece was caught unprepared for such a massive refugee inflow, despite the fact that his government established a Migration Policy Department a year ago.
Tsipras denied that former deputy migration minister Tassia Christodoulopoulou is partly responsible for the excessive migrant inflow because of her lax approach to the issue.
Asked about NATO’s involvement in the Aegean, the prime minister said that his government has never opposed action by Frontex, yet Greece was blamed for not guarding its borders. The NATO involvement will put an end to the blame game, he said.
Regarding the threat that Greece might be excluded from the Schengen zone, Tsipras said that, “An exit from Schengen means marginalization of the country,” adding that being thrown out of the Schengen agreement at the moment would be disastrous.

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