Conservative leader attacks deal, calls for snap polls
Hours after Greece’s left-led government reached a deal on bailout reforms with creditors, conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of committing the debt-wracked nation to a “fourth memorandum” and renewed his call for early elections.
“Tsipras’s lack of credibility has come with a hefty price,” Mitsotakis said Tuesday adding that the total toll of measures taken by the current administration had risen to 12.5 billion euros.
“In order to stay in power, [Tsipras] has committed the country to a fourth memorandum that will impoverish society, particularly the middle class,” he said.
The fresh measures have come without any written commitment for debt relief or Greece's inclusion in the ECB’s quantitative easing program, Mitsotakis said, adding that the coalition was seeking to construct a “virtual reality.”
“We are not afraid of elections… We shall insist on our demand,” Mitsotakis said.
The terms of the deal, reached in the early hours of Tuesday, include another round of pension cuts in 2019 and a commitment to maintain a high primary budget surplus after the current rescue program ends next year.
The cuts must be approved in Parliament by mid-May.
