Greece Election 2015: Anti-austerity Syriza party raises Sunday stakes
Greek anti-austerity party Syriza is on a collision course with European officials after ramping up its election campaign yesterday.
The party is keen on renegotiating some of Greece’s debt. “To promote reforms one must settle the debt issue,” said Yiannis Dragasakis, the party’s senior economist, yesterday. Should Syriza win this Sunday – and polls currently place them in the lead – then Dragasakis is likely to become Greece’s finance minister.
Dragasakis also said yesterday that a Syriza government would not recognise bailout agreements.
Fellow Syriza economist John Milios has previously said that 50 per cent of Greek debt needs to be written off if the economy is to grow again.
Another Syriza official Alexis Mitropoulos yesterday said the party would re-hire state workers “who were unconstitutionally and unlawfully fired”. He specifically mentioned police, public sector cleaners and employees of former state broadcaster ERT.
Dragasakis’ comments to AFP news will fuel fears of a “Grexit” – a Greek exit from the Eurozone.
The finance ministry in Greece has also warned that if Greek bonds are excluded from any bond-buying programme by the European Central Bank, then it would constitute a Grexit, according to Greek newspaper Kathimerini.
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Monday warned of “consequences” if European countries try to renegotiate their debts.
The Prime Minister of Finland has also recently said he would give a “resounding no” to any proposal to forgive Greece’s debt in an interview with the Financial Times.