“Our proposal meets the institutions’ demands for fiscal targets and reforms,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday after a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann.
He also referred to the gradual abolition of early pensions as of 2016. He argued that the changes from 2016 to 2022 will bring savings of 2.5 billion euros. However, we cannot have savings of 1.8 billion euros in 2016, but 300 million euros, without this meaning that this is not a major reform, he said.
The institutions’ insistence on increasing revenues from pension cuts is incomprehensible and that is why we have to take political decisions. If the political leadership of Europe insists, then it should assume the cost of that. The Greek government has made every effort to seal a deal and it will continue to do so, Tsipras underlined.
The Greek government has a specific mandate to reach a sustainable agreement, he added. The Greek government will determine the outcome of the negotiation on the basis of the economic viability and social acceptability. The option to call the Greek people to decide has not crossed our minds, the prime minister noted.
We have only one option and that is to find a solution that will be accepted and passed by the government and the parliament. In a different case, the government and the parliament will once again take the decision. “If we do not have an honorable compromise, we will once again say the big no,” he stressed.
(Source: ANA-MPA)
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