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Do you think there is the necessary political will to implement the second Memorandum correctly? I mean not only the lack of agreement between the ruling PASOK and the opposition New Democracy, but also the problems within the parliamentary group of the socialists and inside the cabinet?

Political will has two aspects. The first is that there are measures with which the government agrees but is has no power to implement them, because it fears the consequences. The second is the complete disagreement with other uses and therefore there is a lack of any will to implement the necessary measures. Both problems are currently observed in Greece and the entire burden of the behaviour of politicians is transferred to the people. For example, when some ministers disagree with the government policy and disagree with the action program, they are not doing their job properly. So, they have to resign. They should be replaced with people who agree with the objectives and are ready to work to achieve them.

To be honest, I can not understand how there are ministers who do not agree with the general policy and have not resigned yet. This is lack of dignity and at many levels in society.

The problem with Greece’s foreign debt is also serious. There are increasing rumours that there will be a voluntary participation of private owners of Greek government bonds in the rescheduling of debt payments next year. How do you think this will affect Greece?

All were saying that this can not happen, when we were talking about renegotiating or extending the repayment of the foreign debt. So, we had to use other words - voluntary participation of private owners. This means that they themselves would agree Greece to pay its obligations to them later. In a nutshell, we are doing the exact same thing (renegotiation), but we are using another term. This decision was made long ago and this is what will happen.

If the extension happens, or even haircut is necessary, won’t the credit rating agencies immediately interpret it as a credit event and activate the insurance market for government bonds CDS?

It is important to understand that we are not talking about voluntary haircut now, but only about deferring the payments on some of the bonds maturing in the next two years. The haircut will come after 2013, when Greece will enter the permanent European Financial Stability Facility and this measure is provided in it. Then the Greek government will negotiate with private banks that have Greek government bonds and will take a joint decision on the percentage of the haircut. It will surely happen, because it is institutionally embedded and will come after two years, but not today.

What will the consequences be for Greece and the local economy? Do you think the country would lose the chance to borrow from capital markets for many years to come?

No, there will be no such consequences because these arrangements are within a voluntary process and it will not be a unilateral decision by Greece. The country lost the right to take this decision in May 2010. If we ourselves had to decide that we would not pay part of the foreign debt it had to happen before the signing of the Memorandum.

The profile of Greece’s creditors will change to 2013, if I am not wrong. Then a larger part of the country's obligations will be to countries, mainly from the European Union, rather than to private investors and banks as it is now. Is that right?

That is right. The loans currently being paid are granted mainly by private institutions and then we will enter the new procedure of payment, which will include mainly countries. This means that the money on loans or bonds to be allocated will be under much more adverse conditions than the present.

Do you believe that the rescue program for Greece could be applied effectively?

I think anything can be done. This does not mean that I agree with this program and I do not think that other tactics could not be applied. But given that we ended up here, it should be implemented correctly and it is not allowed any politician to sabotage it.

Which rescue strategy would you apply if you could make such a decision?

This is a very big issue that is difficult to fit in an interview. I can tell you that I argue that we had to discuss the foreign debt restructuring still on the January 1, 2010, but not today, from the outset and also within the voluntary participation of creditors. I think we would then have better outcomes than those that we will achieve in the current situation. Greece is part of the euro zone. The collapse of any country of the monetary area would have disastrous consequences for the whole Union, i.e. it would affect the euro zone first, then the country itself. We did not consider this properly from the outset, as a country. Europe itself did not properly evaluate the threat of such an event earlier than the problem was born. Only with recent developments European leaders evaluated the depth of the problems of the possible collapse of a country from the monetary union.