NEWS

SYRIZA MPs gearing up for compromise

There were signs on Thursday that SYRIZA officials are preparing their party colleagues and the public for the possibility that the government will have to sign up to an agreement with lenders that will not be looked upon favorably by some MPs and voters.

“It is a compromise; we are not hiding it,” said SYRIZA’s parliamentary spokesman Nikos Filis of the ongoing talks with creditors, while admitting that the negotiations were “not planned in the most effective way.”

Filis insisted that whatever agreement Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras brings home will be the best possible deal and will receive the support of SYRIZA’s MPs. Labor Minister Panos Skourletis echoed this view.

“I do not think the prime minister will bring an agreement which will be in danger of not passing through the current parliamentary group,” he said. “Mr Tsipras knows very well what was in our manifesto, what we want to stand for and who we represent.”

SYRIZA’s MEP Costas Chrysogonos also stressed that the government faces no choice but to back down from some of its demands and accept what lenders have put on the table. “It’s not as if we’ve won a war against our lenders in order to impose conditions on them,” said the European Parliament lawmaker.

State Minister Alekos Flambouraris was also confident that an acceptable deal could be reached, even by the next Eurogroup meeting on June 18. The veteran politician insisted that any deal would contain a clear commitment to further debt relief for Greece.

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