The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras appeared on Mega Channel’s Monday night chat show with Yannis Pretenderis, in an arranged interview to present the latest developments in the negotiations with the troika, tackling organized crime and his aspirations for the future.
“Democracy will not submit to criminal violence”
Mr. Samaras referred to the recent murders of anti-fascist Pavlos Fyssas in Amfiali and Golden Dawn members Kapelonis and Fountoulis and denied the belief that a civil war climate was emerging. The Prime Minister argued that the Greek people are united against violence and called for a united front by all parties. Despite all parties condemning the recent murders in N. Iraklio, Mr. Samaras admitted he was suspicious about the opposition party.
“Golden Dawn is a criminal organization”
In an effort to debunk the “political persecution” of Golden Dawn myth, the Prime Minister repeated his mantra that “democracy condemns actions, not intentions”. He also argued that SYRIZA should have submitted any evidence against Golden Dawn’s criminal activities and distinguished Golden Dawn’s voters from its neo-Nazi leadership.
“There are no far-right-wingers here…”
The Prime Minister defended his choice of close associates, namely Mr. T. Baltakos and Ch. Lazaridis, who have expressed controversial and extremist opinions. Mr. Samaras denied Mr. Baltakos ever proposing that New Democracy forms a coalition government with Golden Dawn, instead accusing SYRIZA of starting a fuss. Regarding Mr. Lazaridis, who is a major proponent of the “two extremes” rhetoric employed by the government to equate far-right fascist violence and leftist activism, the PM claimed “he was unfortunately confirmed” and denied any of associates harboring far-right ideas.
“No to across-the-board measures, yes to restructure measures”
Mr. Samaras defended his overall negotiations strategy with the troika representatives and claimed that he has not agreed to across-the-board measures (i.e. wage and pension cuts), since society and the economy have reached their limits. The PM did however point out that the old agreements with the creditors must be implemented and if new measures are required they will be “restructure” measures. He then argued that Greece is a stable country in an unstable region and that the creditors must respect the sacrifices of the Greek people.
Primary surplus and the new bailout
Despite distressing reports about the overall state of the Greek economy and pessimistic projections about the future, the PM reiterated his promise at the International Fair of Thessaloniki, that 70% of the primary surplus will be used to support the most vulnerable social groups. The Prime Minister denied rumors that a new bailout deal was being negotiated, since the current can be implemented and argued that there will not be a budget gap since he was promised a debt haircut in case of a surplus.
Samaras on Stournaras, Tsipras, Venizelos and PASOK
The Prime Minister defended his Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras who managed to “turn the boat around” in 15 months. He admired Mr. Stournaras for “speaking straight, not hiding behind his words” and for “not believing in the political cost”. On the other hand, Mr. Samaras accused the leader of the Opposition Alexis Tsipras of actively fighting to maintain the crisis, of chasing away investors and called him a “charlatan”.
Despite being bitter rivals for many years, Mr. Samaras extended his support to his coalition government partner Evangelos Venizelos and defended him against the accusations of his involvement in the submarine and Lagarde List scandals. Instead, he accused SYRIZA of opportunism. The Prime Minister took the opportunity to clarify that New Democracy and PASOK would not cooperate in the upcoming municipal elections. He also repeated his claim that parliamentary elections would take place in 2016.
The full transcript of the interview is available here.
