Major opposition party New Democracy (ND) threw down the gauntlet at the Greek government and PM Alexis Tsipras calling for national elections, in a statement by the party’s spokesperson Vasilis Kikilias. ND called for the implementation of a “Greek growth plan to exit the crisis under conditions of national dignity and responsibility”. The opposition party called for cooperation with Greece’s partners and not a collision, stressing that if Mr. Tsipras was unable to pass the new measures in parliament, ND would not offer a life line to his government by backing the measures. “We have made it clear that we would not act as Mr. Tsipras alibi so that he can escape his responsibilities”, said Mr. Kikilias, adding that if he (Tsipras) thought he had the required majority or support in parliament to pass any measures he could move forward, otherwise he would have to call elections. Kikilias said that there was a disparity between the will of the Greek public and the parliamentary representation. “9 out of 10 Greeks are dissatisfied and enraged with Mr. Tsipras”, ND’s spokesperson said. He added that Greece had paid a high price for the incompetence and failure of the coalition government of SYRIZA-ANEL, pointing to the fact that the second review had yet to be completed even though it was the end of December. Kikilias accused the Greek PM of acting in an irresponsible way and that he deceived the Greek people by offering the pensioners a pittance. “He (Tsipras) is unrepentant. He is clinging on to the PM’s chair and has the audacity to speak of the ‘willing’ when it was him who signed the ‘cutter’, the superfund, huge pension cuts and vicious hyper taxation”, Kikilias said.