Nobody apart from the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, was particularly worried by the prospect of an election in Greece, main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday. “I think elections don’t frighten anyone. They frighten Tsipras. I saw no panic abroad or any concern over the prospect of elections,” Mitsotakis said at a dinner that he gave for accredited journalists ahead of the holidays.
According to Mitsotakis, the worst scenario for Greece was a delay in completing the second review, since the money will “run out for good” in July and Greece will find itself “with its back to the wall” from March until July. Even if the review is completed “nothing will change,” Mitsotakis added and noted that Greece had already paid for the prime minister’s u-turns once. “You can’t fool everyone all of the time. Society realizes that his main intention is to remain in power,” ND’s leader said.
He also attacked Tsipras for his track record on reforms and for the “slapdash” approach to the one-off Christmas benefit for pensioners. “Tsipras, through his actions, shows that he neither understands nor is able to carry out reforms…all he does is “sort out” contract workers and appoint new ones, in order to make them permanent,” Mitsotakis claimed. As for the pensioners’ benefit, Mitsotakis said that he would also have given a part of the primary surplus to pensioners but only after consulting with Greece’s partners “to avoid these debacles, with statements of repentance and the various terms and provisos.” Inter alia, ND’s leader pointed out, at the same time as handing out the Christmas bonus, the government was cutting the previous EKAS benefit for low-income pensioners.
(source: ana-mpa)
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