Μain opposition New Democracy (ND) party spokesman Yiannis Mihelakis on Monday referred to the latest attack by hooded extremists outside a police station in Athens' Exarchia district, stressing that Citizen Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis is largely responsible and essentially called for his resignation.
Speaking to reporters, Mihelakis stressed that Papoutsis' public statements concerning the quality of police work have offered an "alibi" to extremists while hurting the morale of the police force.
ND alternate economy sector head Christos Staikouras, who was present in the press briefing, underlined that "we are the only country in the eurozone that is in recession and at the same time we are in the worst position in terms of economic growth".
On his part, the ND spokesman commented that the government follows a dead end policy that cannot meet the goals set, adding that "the government is ineffective".
Called to comment on possible complications stemming from the arrest of IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, he said that ND will see how things develop before making any comments.
Mihelakis also confirmed, without entering into details, that last Wednesday Prime Minister George Papandreou had a telephone communication with ND leader Antonis Samaras.
As regards the consensus issue, Mihelakis clarified that the ND leader was clear on that in the statements he made in Zappeion last Thursday when he unveiled the party's proposals aimed at leading the country out of the crisis.
ANA
