Greek State Minister Nikos Pappas said the government was “half-hearted” when signing some of the bailout required measures and the agreement with creditors was a compromise.
Pappas gave an interview to Deutsche Welle where he admitted that the Greek government was “half-hearted in measures that we believe that could be implemented in a different way.”
“Our agreement is a compromise,” he further said. “The agreement itself has got the elements that our partners asked us to implement, and our wishes. So, the program is not totally ours, it is a compromise.”
Athens has been criticized by its creditors for being very slow on the reforms it has agreed to implement and for dragging its feet in the bailout program review negotiations.
“We have never denied there were internal problems in the Greek state, the Greek economy and the Greek society, never. But these problems were matched with a totally wrong approach that resulted in such a severe recession,” Pappas told Deutsche Welle.
Regarding the alleged 17 billion euros that escape state coffers every year, making the Greek shadow economy represent up to a quarter of the country’s GDP, Pappas called this figure “another extreme expression that does not reflect reality.”
On the migrant issue, the state minister denied reports that many migrants stranded in Greece live under squalid conditions. “Greek authorities in coordination with the European Union, are automatically detaining all asylum seekers and migrants who arrive on the islands of Lesbos and Chios in deplorable conditions,” a report said.
“I had the chance to visit Lesbos myself a few days ago and this is not the case.” However Human Rights Watch has told DW that the allegations regarding deplorable conditions and arbitrary automatic detention still stand.
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