Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sent a message to Greece’s creditors via a newspaper interview with Real News published on Sunday. He said that Greece demands and expects that they take steps to make the country’s debt sustainable, with lower primary surplus targets after 2018.
“We don’t simply ask but demand and expect… the specific measures that will make the debt sustainable. This will obviously have as a consequence the reduction of surpluses after 2018, a fact that essentially opens the way for the recovery of the economy,” he told the newspaper. According to Tsipras, Greece upheld its own end of the agreement and now expected its partners to do the same. The prime minister noted that the most important thing for Greece was an end to uncertainty and he had therefore asked all sides to make their intentions clear as soon as possible.
“In every case, what we insist on is that the agreement is an agreement that must be implemented by all sides, whether they have elections next year in their country or not,” he underlined. Tsipras said that Europe had made a commitment in the direction of debt relief for Greece, both with the agreement of last June and the Eurogroup decision of May 25. This was expected to be made specific by the end of this year, he added, at which time the International Monetary Fund will also decide whether to participate in the Greek programme or not. Asked when Greece might return to borrowing from the markets, the prime minister said that a crucial milestone will be Greece’s inclusion in the European Central Bank quantitative easing program. “This will happen in the coming months. Then the country can return to the markets,” he said.
Discussing European affairs, Tsipras compared the EU to a sleepwalker heading toward a cliff, adding that Brexit would either awaken Europe’s leadership or mark “the beginning of the end of the EU.” He noted that Berlin was still producing excessive surpluses through “frozen” wages and low inflation, while the deficit-running South was breaking all records for unemployment and low growth. “If this continues, we will see some very unpleasant results in the next elections and referendums. If the Schaeuble dogma of a “multiple-speed” Europe with special economic zones of low-cost, devalued labor is not abandoned, Europe will find itself on the verge of disintegration,” he said.
Regarding other issues, Tsipras made it clear that Greece was not waiving its claims for WWII reparations from Germany, noting that a road map will be drawn up for concluding this matter with the desired outcome. Commenting on developments in Turkey and the refugee issue, the prime minister said that a normalization in Turkey would benefit all sides and pointed out that Greece had condemned the attempted coup “as a matter of principle.”
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
