Samaras positive on joining a unity government to keep Greece in eurozone

In an interview with the Bloomberg news agency,  opposition leader Antonis Samaras said on Thursday that he is willing to join a unity government and offer a political rescue that would secure a financial bailout to stay in the euro.

      "If the plan is to keep Greece in the euro area, we will provide support," said Samaras because "Exit would signal a total catastrophe."

In the interview, Samaras questioned Tsipras' commitment to the single currency, he said it's the only conceivable economic path for Greece.

     "For the euro area, the spillover effect from Greece leaving the euro is not going to be today as big as it would have been four years ago," Samaras said. "But it's still going to be huge, and it's going to be a political disaster," he said.

The government should honor the commitments made in February's deal to extend the bailout, said Samaras.

     "If they ideologically decide they won't abide by this agreement, then you may have a default," he added.
     "Euro-area countries which have lower GDP per capita than Greece, countries which have elections and countries which have themselves gone through a program won't give us any more money if they see that the government is not abiding by its commitments and it's behaving in an anti-European manner," noted the leader of ND.

He dismissed criticism he's not supporting the government, saying his party "voted in favor of the two bills the government brought to parliament."

According to him, the Greek Premier is undermining Greece's credibility by making overtures to Russia.

     "When you are in Europe and ask Chinese, Iranians, Russians to finance your deficit, don't you send a signal to the rest of Europe that you are not really a serious pro-European?"

Source: Bloomberg