A televised interview with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday evening responded to the report in German newspaper Die Welt that described Greece as a “rudderless ship” and accused the government of delaying the implementation of reforms. Tsipras said Greece has achieved very difficult milestones and is implementing all its commitments, during a televised interview on public broadcaster ERT.

On Die Welt’s description

“The official voice of the German government in Greece, the German embassy, completely dismissed the report,” said Tsipras who underlined that the reportage did not reflect the view of the official German government but that conservative circles never miss an opportunity to attack the government.

“Our country is not only implementing its commitments, but has also achieved very difficult milestones. What was threatening our country is off the table,” he said. He added that Greece has allies.

On widening the government coalition

Tsipras said that he “feels very safe” with the parliamentary majority he already holds at 153 MPs, adding that his intent was not to create a unity government bearing in mind that Greeks expressed their will in the recent elections. He said his party has a 4-year mandate.

“We don’t need support,” he said. “We want parties to table their proposals on big issues which extend beyond the 4-year mandate, such as the pension system reform, which is a national one, and say ‘No’ to horizontal cuts, to draw the national red line.”

On political influences

He said that a triangle formed by the political, banking and media systems will be crushed. “We’ve reached a point today where politicians are supported by media groups,” he said. “SYRIZA and I have gone through the hoop.” He wondered why the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party has not presented proposals for independent TV regulators, such as the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV).

On legislation passed through parliament

The PM attacked the opposition parties for suddenly pretending to be opposed to the tough bailout measures when it was his party that championed the line of anti-austerity. He did not pretend to offer what he had pledged, but sufficed to say that the laws the government has already passed through Greek Parliament are “the best possible result of a tough negotiation”.

On pension system reforms

It would be pointless to cut pensions further, said Tsipras while pledging that this would not happen. “Our position is that there must not be any cuts in main pensions. A twelfth cut in pensions will have no result,” he said, underlining that he plans to give a tough battle to ensure that pensions remain the same. In his fight to keep pension rates stable he said he’d like to have the support of the opposition parties of Greek Parliament and even unions.

Furthermore, Tsipras said that the government has concrete proposals for pension reforms. The goal of the government is to create jobs for the unemployed while not plundering pensions.

On privatization

There will be developments on the privatization of the Piraeus Port (OLP) that will exclude the area of Drapetsona, Piraeus, to be handed over to the residents themselves.

On banks

Tsipras said that the government averted a bank bail-in, saving people’s accounts from haircuts to the deposits as well as one bank from liquidation. He said that the low price of the National Bank’s stock will rise once the recapitalization is complete and the economy returns to growth.

He said that the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) participation in Greek finances is something that the government of Greece never asked for and stated his belief that Europe must face its problems alone. He expressed the opinion that the fund’s participation won’t be necessary after the successful recapitalization of Greek banks.