Photo: To Vima
New Democracy defined as scandalous the statement of SYRIZA’s parliamentary spokesman Panagiotis Lafazanis that bankruptcy would not be catastrophic for Greece. Lafazanis is one of the oldest and most senior members of the opposition radical left and an outspoken supporter of the return of the drachma. He said in an interview for Alpha radio, "Bankruptcy is not necessarily catastrophic. This is the weapon of the weak when they reach the point of being unable to pay their obligations. We should not describe it as the Bogeyman."
New Democracy has immediately responded in an official statement that Lafazanis should be ashamed to incite the country and the people to failure. "SYRIZA’s parliamentary spokesman Panagiotis Lafazanis has proved with his statements of today that he hopes the country will go bankrupt. A few weeks ago, he calmly required the exit of Greece from the euro area and the European Union. Neither the people nor the government will do him this favour. Such statements are shameful," the statement of the government reads.
Meanwhile, rumours of a new debt haircut are becoming more persistent outside Greece. According to Reuters, the European Central Bank is considering the option of a new restructuring that would reduce the debt by another 100 billion approximately and its level would reach 100% of GDP. Furthermore, Greece is preparing to request another two years delay of the current financial assistance programme after the release of the September report by the supervisory Troika of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. There is no official announcement of such intentions yet, but according to local economists, the external debt remains unmanageable despite its cuts through the PSI + procedure.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Minister of Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos are expected to visit Germany next week. Conservative voices there continue to insist that Greece has no right to ask for more favours. The head of this "choir" is the Minister of Economics Philipp Roesler, who is adamant that the Greeks cannot expect any delay not to speak of third support package without the strict implementation of the reforms planned in the second memorandum.