Main opposition New Democracy leade Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in an interview with Politico, slammed PM Alexis Tsipras on the economy – saying the post-bailout period is a veiled fourth memorandum – and on the Greece-FYROM agreement that he concluded.
Mitsotakis said that the markets and European investors do not trust Tsipras, and that his aim is to regain that trust and credibility, before renegotiating the country’s fiscal targets.
On the FYROM –Greece agreement, Mitsotakis focused his opposition on the fact that the accord recognises the existence of a “Macedonian” language and nationality, and that he will not accept the destabilisation of Greece for the sake of the stabilisation of FYROM.
Mitsotakis downplayed the recent debt relief deal, saying it was “not as good as it looks from the outside”, but conceded that any debt deal is “better than no deal”.
As for the government’s boasts of a clean exit from the bailout regime, Mitsotakis described the post-bailout era and the June debt relief deal as “another programme in disguise”, and that the bond spreads have not really changed after the deal.
“The markets as well as European creditors essentially do not trust the country yet, and I think they do not trust Mr. Tsipras. If this ageeement is truly so good, why have the markets not responded more positively? Look at the spreads – they have not really changed,” Mitsotakis said.
The opposition leader says he wants to convince creditors that he is implementing reforms because he believes in them, and not because they were externally imposed. That, he thinks, will give him leverage to renegotiate fiscal targets, such as the primary surplus.
