The Alternate Minister of Defence Dimitris Vitsas during an interview held today Wednesday 15 February 2017, on STAR TV Channel and journalist Popi Tsapanidou, stated the following on the negotiations issue:
“As long as discussions continue nothing goes to waste, and both sides can achieve things.
The first thing is to close the evaluation without taking new measures. Let’s make it clear that we are talking about 2019 and on, without any new measures, and all that will be agreed upon should give Greece the capability to follow the course it has mapped, the course of growth, which as everybody agrees can be consolidated in 2017 and 2018.
No agreement will be completed unless everything has been settled. Our aspiration and the aim of the negotiation is to put the country in the quantitative relief track which will give us the possibility for “fresh” money.
The second thing is to have mid-term measures for the debt, meaning to decide how to manage the debt in the mid-term, because in the short-term management is actually over.
When one enters a negotiation, one desires to find a solution at a different level. What we are seeking is to have a balance which shapes the stability in economy and the society, no new burdens on the society, so that we will be able to develop our capabilities. Even the primary surplus for 2018 and 2019, the 3.5% is based on growth estimations of 2.7% and this should continue.
We are working for the first date which is February 20th. On March 15 Holland is holding elections and it will be to the benefit of the party and the government, in which Mr. Dijselbloem participates, to close the agreement by that day. We should all work as hard as possible and our effort will be limitless.
We want to leave from the surveillance in 2018. The Grexit discussion is silly. We are not stalling any negotiations. Everybody will benefit from the closure of the evaluation.”
