SYRIZA cadres say Greece will not accept ‘ultimatum’
SYRIZA parliamentary spokesman Nikos Filis said that the government would not sign an agreement that was incompatible with its anti-austerity program, becoming the third leftist party official to say that a take-it-or-leave-it deal with the country’s international creditors will not necessarily pass muster in the party’s ranks on Tuesday.
“If we’re talking about an ultimatum… which is not within the framework of the popular mandate, it is obvious that the government cannot co-sign and accept it,” the usually outspoken Filis told Antenna TV.
His comments echoed those made earlier in the same day by Labor Minister Panos Skourletis, who said Athens could not make more concessions in negotiations for a cash-for-reforms deal and its lenders must assume their responsibilities.
“There is no room for more compromises. We are waiting for the other side to assume its responsibilities,” Skourletis told Greece’s Skai TV.
Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis, who is known for his usually moderate tone, said the Greek government will not accept “any ultimatums” from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.
“We will not submit to blackmail,” he told an Athens meeting of European United Left-Nordic Green Left on Tuesday.
“It is meaningless at this point to become embroiled in an aimless blame game, Dragasakis said. “Instead, we – the prime minister and the government – are focusing on achieving a just agreement.”
The comments came after Chancellor Angela Merkel, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met in Berlin on Tuesday night to hammer out a deal proposal that they presented to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, calling on Athens to reach a compromise.
