PM worried about Italy’s impact
The timing of talks on debt easing appears rather unfortunate, but Tsipras calls for ‘the right solution’
Addressing a general meeting of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) yesterday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras associated the negotiations on the measures to ease Greece’s debt with the outcome of the Italian political crisis, and domestic political stability with a smooth exit from the bailout program.
Under the burden of recent developments and the fluctuations in Greek bond prices, which indicate just how vulnerable Greece’s economy is, Tsipras stated, “It would be a mistake to think that at the end of the program everyone will be queuing up to lend to us at rates similar to those of Germany.”
He added that while the Italian crisis is affecting all European markets, “the positive outcome of the Greek adventure is more necessary than ever for the entire eurozone,” before going on to ask Greece’s peers in the bloc to provide the right solution using the debt-easing agreement of last June as a basis.
The prime minister stated that the fiscal targets agreed must continue to be met so as to maintain the confidence of both the creditors and the markets, and while he referred to fiscal margins from the excessive primary surplus, he stopped short of explaining how they will be utilized.
At the same event New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented his business model for the country, a project that would see the state meet its obligations and reduce taxes while expecting industrialists to also comply with their obligations, invest and respect their workers and the labor legislation.
Mitsotakis’s message was, “No to anymore taxes and [social security] contributions, yes to investments and new jobs, but also to healthy entrepreneurship.” He then used certain examples to illustrate how he would like the Greek business world to help the economy and be helped by the state.
The SEV general meeting also re-elected Theodoros Fessas for two more years as federation’s chairman. Germany’s former vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel was to address the event later last night.