EU conservatives blast Greece on slow reforms

The center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest grouping in the European Parliament, has criticized Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s administration for dragging its feet on implementing the third economic adjustment program for Greece.

“The Tsipras government is playing with fire. Reforms have been only half-heartedly implemented. And Tsipras is playing a blame game,” said EPP group spokesman Burkhard Balz in the European Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs on Tuesday.

The next tranche of money from Greece’s foreign creditors, Balz said, should only be released after substantial progress has been made in a number of areas, particularly the energy sector.

“The labor market also needs structural reforms,” he added.