Greece was no longer the "discredited" country that the
previous New Democracy government had left in its wake, government spokesman Yiorgos Petalotis said on Monday when referring to the results of the eurozone leaders' summit the previous Friday.
previous New Democracy government had left in its wake, government spokesman Yiorgos Petalotis said on Monday when referring to the results of the eurozone leaders' summit the previous Friday.
"We are no longer the problem. On the contrary, we propose solutions and help shape crucial decisions and policies that bring the country out of a dead-end and create a different Europe," he told reporters, stressing that this was the result of "tough negotiations in which nothing was handed to us on a plate".
The government was able to negotiate and convince its EU partners because Greece once again had credibility and already made the difficult decisions and sacrifices necessary, he added.
Concerning the obligation to exploit state property and assets, Petalotis underlined that this was first and foremost the government's own decision.
"Not just because we need revenue today and there is an immediate need to reduce the debt but because we have unused public property that is not even registered," he pointed out.
Petalotis emphasised that this use of state assets will definitely go ahead but "on no account meant the sale of public land", adding that details of proposed privatisations were being worked out and would be announced after careful study.
He denied that the privatisations were a "term" for the EU leaders' agreement to extend repayment of Greek loans, noting that this was something that would have to take place anyway.
Another negotiating success for Greece was the fact that it avoided having fiscal stability imposed as a Constitutional provision, which would have a "negative treatment of our country and an indication of unreliability," Petalotis said. Instead, this provision would take the form of an act of law, rather than an article in the Constitution.
The spokesman ruled out the prospect of early elections or a reshuffle and criticised main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras for speculating that the Memorandum would extend beyond 2013, stressing that there was no chance of a new Memorandum or new measures.
He said that Samaras did not appear to understand his party's role as main opposition in the framework of a national effort being made by the government. He called on ND and the other opposition parties to understand the "enormous" national effort that exiting the crisis demanded.
source: ANA
