Tsipras slams coalition over fiscal program, ‘lies’ about new measures
SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has accused the coalition government of following a ?catastrophic program? and of lying about its intentions not to take any more fiscal measures.
Speaking after the meeting between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis had finished on Wednesday afternoon. Tsipras attacked the coalition?s decision to continue applying the fiscal adjustment program.
?They are sticking with a catastrophic program, picking it up from the point where the [caretaker Lucas] Papademos government left it,? he said. ?The government is also displaying a weakness in its ability to renegotiate the loan deal and has totally surrendered to the troika.?
Tsipras said that talk of a new mid-term fiscal plan was a way of disguising the need for a new memorandum of understanding with the country?s lenders.
?The parties supporting the government are lying when they say they will not take any new measures,? he said in reference to comments by Venizelos and Kouvelis that there is no need for additional cuts or tax hikes this year.
?The government is executing the troika?s orders and is not serving the public interest,? added Tsipras.
The SYRIZA leader said he would turn down any invitation to meet with troika representatives when they come to Athens next week.
?There is no point in meeting them,? he said. ?We call on the government to do the same and to align itself with the public will.?
Tsipras called on the government to ask for an emergency European Union leaders? summit to discuss the Greek program.
