www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
World / Europe

Greek premier proclaims end to austerity in policy statement

(Agencies) Updated: 2015-02-09 14:07

ATHENS, Greece?- Greece's new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras set his leftist government on a collision course with Greece's creditors Sunday, proclaiming an end to the era of austerity and "five years of bailout barbarity."

Tsipras presented his government's policy statement to Greek lawmakers which included, as he had forewarned, all the promises made by his radical left party, Syriza, in its manifesto before last month's election.

The government "has taken the irrevocable decision to stick fully to its pre-election commitments," Tsipras said, indicating that he would not compromise on his party's positions.

By demanding a "bridge agreement" that would give Greece and its creditors time to negotiate a new debt deal much more favorable to the country by June, Tsipras appeared to stick to an approach that got short shrift from European Union partners in a series of meetings that Tsipras and his finance minister had with European officials this past week.

"If our (EU) partners are willing, we can agree (on a bridge agreement) tomorrow morning," Tsipras said.

But this would mean the rest of the EU abandoning its declared policies and giving in to Syriza's demands.

"The (bailout deal) has been abolished by popular mandate," Tsipras said, referring to the two deals that have kept debt-ridden-Greece solvent and provided a historically unprecedented 240 billion euros ($271.4 billion) in assistance.

This aid also went with austerity policies that shrank Greece's economy by a quarter and resulted in record unemployment, with more than a quarter of the workforce jobless.

Having come to power as a result of a popular backlash against these measures, Tsipras geared his speech completely toward a domestic audience, insisting that it is the EU that must return to its "founding principles of solidarity, social cohesion, growth and democracy."

"We declare categorically, we will not negotiate our history. We will not negotiate this people's pride and dignity," said an emotional Tsipras as he concluded his speech.

The current bailout deal runs until the end of February, but Tsipras said the government is "not entitled to ask for an extension," while blasting the previous government for purposely rejecting an EU proposal to extend the deal to June so that a Syriza-led government would face tight deadlines.

"They burned the crops and blew the bridges," Tsipras said of the previous conservative-socialist coalition government.

Syriza's own program includes measures to provide relief for the poor, such as free meals, free electricity and free health care; relief for the middle class by abolishing an unpopular property tax and replacing it with a tax on very large property; and sops to his supporters, such as the abolition of university reform and a re-establishment of the state TV and radio broadcaster that was shut down in 2013 and replaced by a slimmed-down version. But a pledge to raise the minimum wage to pre-crisis levels, once promised as the first measure to be implemented by the government, will be done in two stages and not realized until 2016.

Tsipras insisted that his government's budgets would be balanced, save for the debt servicing needs. On the debt, while his original demand for a minimum 60 percent "haircut," or write-off, has been rejected by Greece's creditors, he has presented other proposals, such as issuance of low-interest "perpetual bonds," maturity extensions and deferrals of payments that would have the same effect. He said the EU should have no problem accepting his pledges to tackle corruption and tax evasion and reform the state administration.

Greek lawmakers will debate the policy statement and hold a confidence vote at midnight Tuesday.

Greece faces three crucial European Union meetings in the coming days: an emergency meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday, a summit of EU leaders Thursday, and another Eurozone finance ministers meeting on Feb. 16. It has been given a virtual ultimatum to present a program compatible with the bailout deal by that latter meeting; the European Central Bank has applied additional pressure by refusing to accept Greek bonds as collateral after Feb. 11, forcing Greek banks to seek funds from a, more expensive, emergency liquidity mechanism.

Trudeau visits Sina Weibo
May gets little gasp as EU extends deadline for sufficient progress in Brexit talks
Ethiopian FM urges strengthened Ethiopia-China ties
Yemen's ex-president Saleh, relatives killed by Houthis
Most Popular
Hot Topics

...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产一区免费在线观看 | 国产成人理在线观看视频 | 国产美女又黄又爽又色视频免费 | 国产日产欧产精品精品推荐在线 | 国产精品99久久99久久久看片 | 亚洲国产精品成人综合久久久 | 精品国产精品久久一区免费式 | 国产成人高清精品免费软件 | 成人69视频在线观看免费 | 欧美成人午夜做爰视频在线观看 | 日韩a一级欧美一级 | japanese 色系 tube日本 | 久久久久久久久网站 | 99久久99久久精品免费看子伦 | 青青视频国产依人在线 | 成年人看的黄色片 | ffyybb免费福利视频 | 久久久在线视频精品免费观看 | 午夜无遮挡怕怕怕免费视频 | 一级毛片aaaaaa免费看 | 国产9191精品免费观看 | 欧美成人久久久免费播放 | 特黄视频 | 男女视频免费在线观看 | 自拍视频在线观看 | 日本免费一区二区三区a区 日本免费一区二区三区看片 | 国产成人高清亚洲一区久久 | 中国一级做a爱片免费 | 欧美全免费aaaaaa特黄在线 | 男人扒开腿躁女人j | 伊人婷婷色香五月综合缴激情 | 在线观看免费视频网站色 | 久色乳综合思思在线视频 | 久久综合久久久 | 免费看a | xx欧美老妇 | 亚洲成人91| 国产一级片免费看 | 国产成人久久精品区一区二区 | 欧美成人a| 国产欧美日韩一区二区三区在线 |