ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said that his anti-austerity government now faces its toughest work as in first public reaction deal made to extend bailout for four months.
The Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, has said the country has won a significant battle but had yet to win the war, in his first public reaction to the latest deal to keep debt-stricken nation afloat financially.
Addressing the nation less than 12 hours after the agreement was sealed at an emergency meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels, the leftist leader said the hardest work now laid before his anti-austerity government.
The accord, which now rests on Athens proposing reforms acceptable to its creditors at the EU and IMF by Monday, was the bridge that would link Greece from a hated era of international oversight embodied by hard-hitting austerity to a period of growth envisaged by the government.
“We kept Greece standing and dignified,” said Tsipras adding that the deal had ended the unrealistic primary surpluses demanded by the previous bailout plan signed by his predecessor. “In effect it cancels austerity … In a few days we have achieved a lot but we have a long road. We have taken a decisive step to change course within the euro zone. Now negotiations enter a new, effective stage.”
But Tsipras, whose left-dominated two-party government assumed power almost a month ago, is also likely to face a backlash from within his own Syriza party.
The bailout program extended for four months under the agreement reached late on Friday has prevented Greece from being shown the euro exit door but has come at a heavy price.
Despite the government’s positive spin, Athens was forced to make significant concessions, including reneging on demands for a write-down of its monumental debt load.
On Saturday, there was widespread consensus in Athens that what the government had agreed to – under threat of capital controls being enforced on the country’s fragile banking system – was the best of increasingly bad deals that would inevitably be on offer.
Capital flight has accelerated in recent days with an estimated €1bn flooding out of Greek banks on Friday, according to the country’s central bank, as worried investors, fearing the loss of savings if the talks failed, withdrew funds.
“We won time,” said government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis early on Saturday. “The Greek economy and the Greek government weren’t strangled, as was perhaps the original political plan by centres abroad and within the country.”
