ND aims to put government on the defensive

Determined to expose what it describes as the government’s ineptitude, opposition New Democracy is focusing its efforts on Tuesday’s discussion in Parliament regarding the creation of an investigative committee to probe the government’s actions in the first six months of 2015. The conservatives want an investigation into the events that led to the imposition of capital controls and the recent revelation that there was a secret plan to take the country out of the eurozone as tension rose during negotiations with creditors.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, party spokesperson Giorgos Koumoutsakos said the government is morally obliged to accept ND’s proposal for the creation of the committee, as the conservatives had already agreed to an official probe demanded by the leftist-led government into how ND and socialist PASOK racked up millions of euros in unserviced debt while in government.

“Tsipras has an obligation to agree to the creation of the investigating committee that New Democracy has requested… people must know exactly what happened.

“If he doesn’t agree he will prove that he fears the truth and that he is trying to cover it up,” Koumoutsakos said, adding that every time Tsipras has been asked about the issue his responses have been “contradictory.”

The charge against the government is expected to be led by ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is expected to focus on the way negotiations were handled by former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.