Political uncertainty is the country’s main issue, Greek government Vice President Evangelos Venizelos said on Friday addressing the Democratic Bloc Secretariat meeting. He explained that this uncertainty makes negotiation even more difficult and provides lenders with arguments, when the main opposition officially questions the state’s continuity, which is unprecedented for European standards.
He noted that the main opposition has an unparalleled contradiction, as it claims it wants to exit the Memorandum and the Troika but it does not want this to be done by the government.
He termed the negotiation very difficult and said it was excessively extended, and that this extension was unfair to the country. He added that the lenders should realize that five years have gone by and the country has three significant achievements: positive growth rate, primary surplus and good fiscal performance, and a solid banking system that successfully passed stress tests.
The negotiation, Venizelos said, is double-sided; it relates to the conclusion of the current program and at the same time to the new framework, which, as he said, will be different, decent and equal. It is also taking place on a third level, he said, which relates to the debt.
He claimed it was wrong for someone to try to persuade markets and the IMF that the Greek debt was not sustainable. Saying something like that, poses many risks, he added.
He also referred to another side of the negotiation, which is more related to the European Union and its relation to the IMF, which wants to stay in the Eurozone and Europe in general. This, Venizelos said, mainly concerns other countries with high debt, which in two cases (France and Italy) exceeds 5 trillion euros.
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