Voters will judge the government at the end of its term, Tzanakopoulos says
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Greek voters will decide whether they will re-elect a SYRIZA government that defends the social state or whether they will go back into the arms of the old political establishment at the end of the government’s four-year term, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos reiterated on Wednesday while talking on the Greek radio station 24/7.
In an interview that covered issues ranging from the economy to the Prespes Agreement, Tzanakopoulos strongly criticised the stance adopted by main opposition New Democracy, especially on the FYROM name issue, while predicting that the departure of the ruling coalition’s junior partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) will not prevent the government from fully completing its term.
Commenting on press reports regarding the ratification of the Prespes Agreement and the protocol for FYROM’s accession to NATO, Tzanakopoulos repeated that a few days will intervene between the vote on the first and parliament’s ratification of the second, provided that the Prespes Agreement is passed by an absolute majority in the Hellenic Parliament “ which is obviously also the government’s goal”.
Reports that ratification of the NATO protocol might be postponed until after the elections were “ absolute nonsense,” he added.
He also repeated that the goal of 151 votes in support of the Prespes Agreement was achievable, given that more than four Potami party MPs had expressed their support for it and there was nothing to indicate that they might change their minds.
Even after ANEL withdraws from the coalition government, Tzanakopoulos said, the government did not see any reason to seek a vote of confidence since ANEL leader Panos Kammenos has stated that his party will not support a vote of no confidence in the government.
“ In this sense we will have a government, as in many other countries of Europe…, which operates with so-called tolerance,” he said.
He also accused ND of looking for excuses to pull out of the process for revising the Constitution because it wanted to protect the current privileges for politicians and MPs against the law.
Tzanakopoulos noted that the present government had succeeded in stabilising the economy, returning it to growth and creating 400,000 new jobs, while laying the foundations for a regulated labour market and a new social state.
“ The elections will be judged by the government’s achievements in the economy, all that it has done on the level of the social state and all that it has done on the level of legal protection of the state against corruption,” the spokesman said, while another key factor will be “ whether it succeeds in resolving historic issues that have been pending for many years, such as the FYROM name issue.”
He also rejected opposition claims that Greece did not have access to the markets, citing present bond yields, and noted that Greece’s Public Debt Management Agency will decide on the best time to tap the markets.
Source: ANA-MPA
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