The Greek Prime Minister’s press office has issued a statement urging the IMF to wrap up negotiations as soon as possible, without unrealistic demands, beyond what was agreed in July 2015.
The statement came as a response to the IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, in relation to the recent WikiLeaks revelation.
According to the statement, the strategy of delays, in order to create a credit event in Greece ahead of the UK’s EU referendum would be major foolishness, which must be prevented. Furthermore, the statement argues that Greece is, as always, a safe country.
IMF leader Christine Lagarde on Sunday responded to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ letter of April 2, saying that her positions had not changed and calling on him to “ensure an environment that respects the privacy of (the) internal discussions” of the Fund team coming to Athens for the loan negotiation discussions.
Reiterating an earlier statement by the Fund, Lagarde said that Greece and the IMF were “still a good distance away from having a coherent program that I can present to our Executive Board“, saying the lender could “only support a program that is credible and based on realistic assumptions, and that delivers on its objective of setting Greece on a path of robust growth while gradually restoring debt sustainability.”
Simply nonsense
“Of course, any speculation that IMF staff would consider using a credit event as a negotiating tactic is simply nonsense,” she said, while standing by the decision that “if it were necessary to lower the fiscal targets to have a realistic chance of them being fully met, there would be an attendant need for more debt relief. In the interest of the Greek people, we need to bring these negotiations to a speedy conclusion.”
Referring to the prime minister’s concerns over recently released Wikileak documents, she in turn expressed concern “as to whether we can indeed achieve progress in a climate of extreme sensitivity to statements of either side.” Lagarde added her full backing of the IMF team and said that “for them to be able to do their work, as you have invited us, it is critical that your authorities ensure an environment that respects the privacy of their internal discussions and take all necessary steps to guarantee their personal safety.”
She concluded by saying that “the IMF conducts its negotiations in good faith, not by way of threats, and we do not communicate through leaks,” and said she was releasing her letter to the Fund’s website “to further enhance the transparency of our dialogue.”
Kyriakos Mistotakis, leader of the major Greek opposition party New Democracy commented on the wikileaks revelations regarding the IMF and the negotiations with the Greek government by attacking PM Alexis Tsipras during a party rally in Larissa. Mitsotakis stressed that the difference of opinions among Greece’s lenders were already known adding that the whole issue should not be blown out of proportions. The opposition leader accused the Greek government of failing to secure then privacy of conversations raising the issue of how the private conversation was recorded and leaked. ‘Tsipras should stop seeking foreign enemies to cover up for his incompetence’, said Mitsotakis. The Greek government responded to Mitsotakis by accusing him of aligning with the IMF and supporting it against Greece’s interests.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
