Greek Finance Minister George Katrougalos said the IMF would make harsh demands on labour matters during the new round of negotiations scheduled for next Autumn. Speaking on radio station ‘Real fm’, Katrougalos said that no matter what these demands entailed the Greek government would not cave in. ‘We will not offer blood on the labour issues’, he said. He went on to say that the Greek government was not interested in making any concessions to the IMF if that meant backtracking on fundamental principles and commitments to protect workers’ wages. Commenting on the minimum wage, the Minister stressed that it would be included on the agenda of talks, as the Greek government wanted it to be part of the collective bargaining talks. He criticised the IMF’s policies as leading to a complete impoverishment in Greece.