“We are not negotiating the memorandum that was cancelled by its own failure and by the verdict of our people,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stressed in Parliament in the early hours of Wednesday morning, wrapping up a three-day debate on the government΄s policy statements.
“We are negotiating the loan contract and not the memorandum, which is the legal expression of a programme of neoliberal austerity and internal devaluation. More than 450 enacting laws,” Tsipras underlined, just before a vote of confidence in his government, AMNA reported.
The prime minister repeated that Greece is seeking a bridge-programme between the memorandum and the post-memorandum era, which cannot be accompanied by more austerity measures.
He also underlined that Greece was not asking for more money or a new loan, as many of the foreign media had suggested. “We are asking for specific facilitations, such as the return of money that central banks made in profits that is owed to us, or to be able to use money that we have already borrowed and which is in the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) in order to rid our banking system of bad loans, or an increase in the limit on treasury bonds we can issue. We are seeking technical facilitations, not more money,” he emphasised.
Tsipras appeared confident that the upcoming negotiations with Greece΄s partners will ultimately be successful, while he delivered stinging attacks against the previous coalition government, New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos. Tsipras once again highlighted the fact that they had asked for a mere two-month extension of Greece΄s programme, suggesting that they wanted the new government to face financing difficulties.
“You know very well that, if there was loan protection until June, there would be no technical excuse for the European Central Bank΄s stance, which wants the existence of a loan programme and not a memorandum programme. We would have carried out the popular mandate and legislated our programme without anyone blackmailing us that we will find ourselves without the support of the banks. You planned
Greece΄s blackmail down to the last detail. It was your last choice, in hope that you would personally be saved. You rolled for Greece in a crapshoot, simply so that history does not swallow you up. Understand this: history has already swallowed you,” he said.