The Greek finance minister on Monday evening, during debate in Parliament, promised a return to growth for the crisis-plagued Greek economy while “remaining (in Europe) and intervening in European structures, and with social redistribution.”
FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos made the statement from Parliament’s podium in answer to a tabled question by main opposition New Democracy party regarding the recent recapitalization of Greek banks.
“I am not so pessimistic; there is a plan, because we have a road map, and what happened with (the sale of) Finansbank is reversible. The four (Greek) systemic banks will retain a significant presence in the Balkans if things go well for a decade. I have every expectation that we’ll exceed revenues of 5.7 billion euros,” he said, while referring to National Bank of Greece’s (NBG) sale of its majority stake in Turkey’s Finansbank.
Tsakalotos, nevertheless, declined to comment on whether NBG’s sale of Finansbank is a positive development, saying it may be, “but this will emerge in the future”.
The opposition sharply criticized the leftist government over the recent recapitalization of systemic banks in the country.
“The SYRIZA-AN.EL (coalition) government will answer to the Greek people, and it will answer very soon,” ND rapporteur Nikos Dendias said.
Along those same lines, ND deputy Christos Staikouras also criticized the government and asked about the share price with which Attica Bank implemented with a share capital increase, a development that witnessed the participation of state-run utilities, pension funds and other public entities in the recapitalization, as he charged.
