Former prime minister Costas Simitis blasts government tactics

Greece’s former socialist prime minister Costas Simitis slammed the SYRIZA government’s economic policy for fueling uncertainty among investors and condemning the country to “systematic economic decline.”

“We have the biggest public debt, a low growth rate, very high unemployment, a low competitiveness rate and a poor record on issues of social fairness, justice and corruption,” Simitis said during an event organized by the Network of Contemporary Democrats, a political movement set up by former PASOK reformists.

Simitis said SYRIZA was resorting to demagoguery and fabrications to extent its grasp on power ahead of elections later this year.

“The government’s economic policy is centered around handouts and benefits, which, in turn, fuel clandestine labor and tax evasion,” he said. “The government… disguises reality, which is eventually revealed to us through Brussels.”