While pointing to recent opinion polls where SYRIZA clearly holds a lead over the main opposition New Democracy party, Flampouraris estimated that citizens would side with the government should a referendum be called. He said citizens appear to trust Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the negotiation efforts that are being made with the country's lenders.
When asked what the government would do, if it is faced with the dilemma of either paying wages and pensions or the next IMF loan payment, he underlined that the government will chose to first pay wages and pensions.
He said that at some point the government intends to implement its election promises, but noted that the controversial ENFIA real estate tax may be preserved for six months and that the Christmas bonus pension will be paid out, even if this is delayed. He also argued that the people are going to experience major changes, as soon as Greece's liquidity crisis is resolved.
Turning to the formation of the political negotiation team and the allegations that claim that Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was side-lined, Flampouraris noted that the Varoufakis has held onto all of the powers he had prior to this development. He was unable to confirm whether he would be accompanied by Government VP Yannis Dragasakis or someone else at the upcoming Eurogroup session.
In his opinion, the agreement made on February 20th was a success, as it revised the requirement for a primary surplus and essentially “ended” the fifth review of the bailout program, nonetheless he admitted that the government made a “mistake” in overestimating “the democratic, transparent and social attitude" of its partners.
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