Greek gov’t pushes ‘better days ahead’ narrative

The government intends to submit a series of legislative amendments during the Parliament’s summer sessions in a bid to cultivate its narrative that it will have more scope to ease the burden of austerity once Greece exits the bailout next month. 

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Alternate Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos said the government will seek to restore labor relations that had been so “brutally deregulated during the memorandum period.” 

However, his remarks came as the International Monetary Fund warned the government on Thursday that rolling back labor reforms will undermine the economy’s competitiveness. 

Katrougalos’s sentiments were echoed later in the day by SYRIZA lawmaker Thodoris Dritsas during a session of an interparliamentary committee on pharmaceutical policy over which he presides. 

“We will no longer have memorandum commitments in terms of measures,” he said, adding that Greece will have to meet targets but will no longer be told what measures it must take.

For his part, Health Minister Pavlos Polakis told another Parliament committee that Greece is emerging from the “tight” situation it was in. 

However, New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis once again challenged the government’s narrative saying that harsh austerity will continue in the post-bailout era as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has signed on to additional fiscal measures that are tantamount to a fourth memorandum.