Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA) on Tuesday, with subsequent press leaks claiming he asked banks’ representatives to offer “relief” to households and businesses holding non-performing loans (NPLs) and to avoid “mass layoffs”.
The leftist Greek premier met with the association’s board at his Maximos Mansion office, with several top government officials, including deputy PM Yannis Dragasakis, in attendance.
Taking to Twitter afterwards and via his personal account, Tsipras offered this view on how the Greek crisis exploded on the international scene in late 2009. “(The) crisis began from (Greek) banks’ inability to offer liquidity to the economy and it (crisis) will end with the lifting of this inability. The government, banks and (other) entities must work together for the economy’s recovery.”
Conversely, Tsipras’ rival, main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on directly charged that if any new agreement with creditors will be distinctly felt by citizens if it “includes a reduction in pensions and a lower of the tax-free threshold.”
Speaking at the presentation of a new book in Athens, Mitsotakis also stepped up his attack at what he called populism in the country. The center-right political leader stressed that the phenomenon, which he said was “perfected” in Greece, will face a “certain defeat by a well-documented, realistic and reasoned political speech.”
