Here we have the interview he gave to a MEGA channel correspondent on Monday evening, where he more or less speaks about the same issues
Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras was adamant that early general elections will be held on May 6, next month, addressing a party rally at the weekend in Aigaleo. stressing: "elections will take place, whether they want it or not; we do not fear the people, it is others who are hiding". "Greece will succeed, we can proceed differently," he said, adding: "We did away with (former prime minister) George Papandreou, now we will do away with PASOK." Samaras further ruled out any co-governance between ND and PASOK, explaining: "Co-governance is desired by three types of interests: First, PASOK itself. Second, all those vested interests and guilds that do not want anything to change in Greece. Third, all those inside and outside Greece that want tomorrow's government to be weak and controllable."
ND, he continued, has a clear-cut goal for the elections: "We are asking for a clear mandate from the Greek people in order to change everything." Moreover, he said he has been vindicated in his predictions with respect to the Memorandum. "From the beginning we warned that the recipe was wrong, and it proved to be wrong. We warned that the crisis would deepen and debt would increase, and this was confirmed. I told them in Brussels that I have no problem with the targets of the program, but I cannot arrive every so often with my hand extended for the next tranche. I was alone in saying this because PASOK -- Papandreou, Venizelos, Papaconstantinou -- were assuring them that the program was working. "The Papandreou government made a fatal mistake when it decided to hold a referendum. The destruction was completed because Greece was fully isolated by Europe," Samaras added.
Explaining his own reversal for the second Memorandum, Samaras said Papandreou and PASOK had brought the country before an immense problem, making the debt unsustainable and leading the country to unprecedented international isolation and deepening the recession. With his own policy, Samaras added, the two first problems have already been dealt with: The debt was shaved and Greece stopped being isolated, while "we have already sent the message to our lenders that we will ask that there is a recovery".
"PASOK tied us up hand and foot, whereas I am trying to untie the bonds," he said.
On taxation, he said that it is neither fair nor developmental that the same people are paying excessive taxes and surtaxes over and over. Outlining his own program, Samaras said that the first priority is recovery, the second is to remedy the excessive injustices in order to have social cohesion, the third is the safety of the citizens, zero tolerance for crime and halting illegal migration, and the fourth is to restore among the people a sense of justice.
On speculation that new austerity measures will be decided in June, Samaras stood firm on measures of equal results and a clampdown on wasteful spending, adding that recovery will arise from the utilisation of the EU funds of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) that have remained unused, a guarantee of liquidity in the market with the return of all the money owed by the state to the enterprises, and with a timetable for the reduction of taxes, beginning with a reduction of the tax rates to 15 percent.
Samaras further said that he will set up a Parliamentary commission to investigate why country reached the point of the Memorandum, noting that all that he is promising is more or less an elimination of the consequences of the Memorandum, adding that "this cannot be done hand-in-hand with those (PASOK) who led the country to the Memorandum".
Finally, he also attacked new PASOK leader and former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, calling him "one of the main authors of the Memorandum", and noting that Venizelos had predicted that with the Memorandum a "bottom" was being put in the barrel whereas everything fell apart, and added that even some of the leading cadres of PASOK were accusing Venizelos today.
In a later response, PASOK spokesperson Fofi Gennimata charged that Samaras' line is "unfortunately fueling blind policies that endanger the Greek people's sacrifices." She also claimed that the ND leader was exhibiting a vain language and a complete lack of self-criticism, along with demagogic promises with half-truths. (combined reports - AMNA)
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