Greek opposition insists on 'necessity' for snap general election

Source:Xinhua Published: 2014-9-14 23:41:29

Greek opposition Radical Left Coalition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras on Sunday reiterated call for immediately holding snap general elections.

During his visit to Thessaloniki's International Fair at the northern city port this weekend, Tsipras presented his party's plan for the reconstruction of the recession-wrecked economy.

During the speech he delivered as well as a press conference a few hours later, SYRIZA's chief insisted on the "necessity" to hold immediate snap national elections, "so that a government with fresh mandate can effectively negotiate with lenders."

In June 2012, when SYRIZA ranked second after the ruling New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in the elections, the dilemma raised was whether Greece would stick with the bailout deals struck with European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 2010 and a painful austerity and reform program to address the debt crisis or follow a different path, risking even its membership in the euro zone.

"Grexit speculation belongs to last year," Tsipras underlined on Sunday, rejecting such scenarios. Greece's exit from the euro zone would be catastrophic for the entire euro zone and global economy, he stressed.

SYRIZA's chief dismissed the government's assurances that Greece is exiting the crisis this year after the implementation of the austerity program and suggested an alternative national plan to replace the memorandum and reconstruct the economy.

SYRIZA's program is based on four pillars, starting from measures to deal with the humanitarian crisis, such as free medical care for all, housing programs and support of families and pensioners living below the poverty line.

The second pillar includes polices to restart the economy by tackling over taxation and boosting liquidity.

The next pillar focuses on policies aimed at supporting the creation of job positions and the final pillar focuses on reforms on the political system aimed at strengthening democratic institutions.

The government dismissed Tsipras' promises, in particular for a major sovereign debt write off to make it sustainable and the dramatic restoration of wages and pensions, if SYRIZA takes office, as "unrealistic."

Tsipras replied that measures to combat still widespread tax evasion for example were concrete and realistic.

In regards to tax dodging during the press conference he talked about a Mafia and pointed to IMF's chief Christine Lagarde's claim that she had received death threats when she talked about the plague of tax dodgers in Greece.

"In 2012 I received similar threats, when they told me come to find us and tax us. The person who said this of course was later imprisoned," Tsipras revealed, without naming the person.

Posted in: Europe

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