The press officer and close associate of former PASOK President and Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou, Giorgos Elenopoulos, has lashed out against those who speak of a primary surplus and are critical of the policies followed in 2010 and 2011 “in a effort to appear immaculate and unblemished in the upcoming elections”.
In his statement Mr. Elenopoulos claims that the primary surplus “was not created with magic recipes at Zappeio” and argued that the huge deficit created by the previous administrations was drastically reduced during those two years. Mr. Elenopoulos also challenged Mr. Papandreou’s critics to compare the measures of the first bailout and those of the second, while reminding them that the estimations of the second bailout were off by billions.
Mr. Papandreou’s associate was critical of the time lost “for personal gains and partisan interests” which resulted “in overthrowing an elected government”. Mr. Elenopoulos also derided the stance of certain PASOK executives “whose scheming brought disarray to the party”. Crucially though, Mr. Elenopoulos argues that the 2010/2011 reforms are being degraded, despite resulting in Greece being amongst the top OECD members.
