New Democracy says Eurogroup decision puts Greece in a fish bowl
Opposition New Democracy stressed on Friday that Greece has got no reduction of its debt from the Eurogroup decision in the day’s early hours – instead it is getting increased surveillance with the markets having no confidence in the local economy.
The conservatives’ vice-president Costis Hatzidakis told Antenna TV that “this debt settlement is nothing exciting. We are not talking of a debt reduction. With the ‘abhorrent’ PSI [in 2012] we got 120 billion euros off our debt, while now we have secured no reduction.”
“What will happen now is that Greece will enter a fish bowl until 2022,” the former European Commissioner said, adding that Athens has got the cash cushion of 22 billion euros because its creditors do not trust Greece’s ability to tap the markets.
He did concede that the extension of the bailout loans is important, but the major problem was not so much the debt itself but the confidence of markets in the Greek economy – or lack thereof.
At the same time New Democracy deputy Makis Voridis told Skai TV that instead of getting its debt slashed it got a stricter monitoring, that is unprecedented for a country emerging from a bailout program. He stressed that the promised measures will only be implemented gradually and under conditions.
