Former Greek prime minister and leader of the Socialist Democrats Movement Giorgos Papandreou said he didn’t want the International Monetary Fund in Greece’s bailout in 2010, but he accepted upon Germany’s insistence.
In an interview on SKAI television, the former leader of PASOK spoke about his short tenure (2009-2010) as Greece’s prime minister and defended himself saying that he was blamed for more than he was responsible.
Papandreou said his greatest mistake was not carrying out a referendum prior to the first bailout. He attributed the mistake to his successor at the helm of PASOK, Evangelos Venizelos and a small group of MPs.
According to Papandreou, during his trip to Cannes he informed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission head José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker and the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy that he was considering a referendum.
This referendum, he explained, would take place after the negotiations on the bailout program were agreed. The former PM claimed that the European officials responded positively, with the exception of Sarkozy who was concerned about the market response.
In reference to his famous statement that “there is money,” he claimed that his words were taken out of context and added that he was not talking about handouts. Rather, he explained, he referred to the benefits of tackling tax evasion, bolstering transparency in the public sector, merging public organizations and limiting bureaucracy to attract foreign investments.
During his interview the former Prime Minister referred to his predecessor Kostas Karamanlis, whom he accused of “statistical fraud” and a cover-up by withholding the real figures on the economy. Papandreou also accused Bank of Greece governor at the time, Giorgos Provopoulos, of withholding an IMF report that warned the debt may soar to 800 percent of GDP.
Papandreou also revealed that in 2010 he contacted New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras and asked for his support to pass the bailout agreement through Parliament, but he rejected the request. The two spoke again in June 2011, with Papandreou offering to form a coalition government, even without him as prime minister.
However, the New Democracy president interpreted the offer as a desire to resign and as an opportunity to ask for elections, Papandreou explained.
When asked about SYRIZA, Papandreou said that the party took advantage of the Greek people’s frustration and created general, unrealistic expectations and hopes. As such, he estimated that SYRIZA missed an opportunity to turn into a left wing democratic party, rather than a leftist clientelist party or one that views itself as a regime.
Papandreou concluded by repeating his call for cooperation among parties from all sides of the political spectrum in order to overcome the crisis with the least cost to Greek people.
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