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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Greek Govt: SYRIZA Decisions Binding, no Plans for Reshuffle

The decisions taken by SYRIZA’s Central Committee are binding for the party’s MPs as well, government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis said during the regular press briefing on Monday, in response to questions on the resolution voted on Sunday. He also made it clear that the government has no plans for a cabinet reshuffle, when asked whether any agreement reached with creditors would be implemented by the existing government team. According to Sakellaridis, the agreement that would finally be sent to Parliament and possibly SYRIZA’s Central Committee “will have all those features” that would allow a vote without problems. Questioned about comments made by foreign officials, Sakellaridis noted that some of these could be seen as “extremely aggressive and derogatory,” while adding that Greece had chosen not to respond. With respect to leaks disputing whether European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker should have a say in the negotiations on Greece, Sakellaridis said he could not believe that such comments had been made, given that the European Commission was directly involved in the negotiations. “One of the three is the European Commission, which has equal say and whose opinion carries the same weight as the other institutions involved in the process,” he noted. The spokesman also clarified that there had been no official invitation to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to address the European Parliament on Thursday. Sakellaridis said that the government had not asked for any extension of the loan agreement, nor had anyone raised this issue, while it was not currently considering any postponement of payments until a “debt truth” committee launched in Greece had issued its report. In response to other questions, the spokesman made it clear that Tsipras had not instructed Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis to record Eurogroup sessions, while the Minister had repeatedly stated that he absolutely respects the confidentiality of the sessions. He underlined that Varoufakis continues to have the full confidence of both the Prime Minister and the government, and that there is “no issue with any government Minister.” On relations with Israel, Sakellaridis said the Foreign Ministry was trying to promote these but this in no way changed the government’s standing positions regarding the Palestinian problem. (source: ana-mpa)


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com