Tsipras, Mitsotakis spar in House debate on party loans
Addressing Parliament ahead of a debate on the creation of a committee to probe the debts run up by political parties on Friday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leader of the main conservative New Democracy of adopting the tough stance of Greece's international creditors and defaming the country.
Responding to comments made by Mitsotakis in an interview with the Washington Post, Tsipras declared that Mitsotakis saw eye-to-eye with lenders on the issue of structural reforms, as regards the country's debt and on a recent controversy over a leaked private conversation between International Monetary Fund officials in Athens.
"The review will close without additional measures because that's what was agreed last July," Tsipras said, referring to Greece's third bailout pact.
The premier hit out at ND cadres following a series of legal suits, indicating that the conservatives are covering up alleged misdeeds by their own people. "You are covering up the doings of the Samaras government and the Panama Papers," he said in a reference to the alleged presence of the name of a former aide to the ex conservative premier on a list of confidential documents compiled by the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Mitsotakis, for his part, declared that he was supporting the interests of the country "which are not the same as yours," adding that the best thing Tsipras could do was "to leave as soon as possible." He accused SYRIZA of pocketing large loans when it was a small party polling at the 4 percent mark.
