NEWS

LAOS chief accuses PASOK, ND of betraying the country

The leader of an ultranationalist party has lashed out against Greece’s socialist and conservative coalition partners, accusing them of working against the nation’s interests.

?Betrayal is too kind a word for PASOK and New Democracy,? Giorgos Karatzaferis, leader of the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), said in an interview with Skai on Monday.

?They depend their political survival on foreign power centers by accepting English law for [Greece’s] bonds. This land is governed by [Horst] Reichenbach,? he said in a reference to the head of the European Commission?s Task Force for Greece.

Issuing the new bonds, under the recent debt exchange, under English law meant that Greek lawmakers can’t review the legal terms of the deal. If the bonds were governed by Greek law, it would be easier for the Greek deputies to pass a law that simply amends the bonds.

Recent opinion polls show that support for LAOS has dropped in the wake of its brief participation in the interim government. LAOS pulled out of the power-sharing government in February before a crucial parliament vote to back tougher austerity measures demanded by rescue creditors.

On Monday, Karatzaferis sought to justify the damage saying he was being targeted by outside interests.

?I am not the first choice of the Americans and the troika,? he said of Greece’s foreign lenders, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. ?It’s only natural for me to be under pressure,? he said.

Karatzaferis, who is faced with unprecedented popularity of Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn) neo-fascists in opinion polls, appeared eager to confirm LAOS’s right-wing credentials, criticizing a recent campaign to clamp down on illegal immigration for not going far enough.

The government has announced plans to create 30 detention centers on the mainland to house illegal immigrants, who don?t qualify for asylum, before they are deported.

Speaking to Skai, Karatzaferis said moving the illegal migrants on several of Greece’s empty islands, used in the past for the country’s communist exiles, would be a ?good solution.?

?I don’t want them. This is where I stand. I don’t want them to become a majority,» he said of undocumented immigrants, while defending citizens’ right to keep and bear arms for self defense.

?Imagine a foreigner coming to rape your daughter and wife. You will shoot him; there is no discussion about that,? he said.

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