A credible policy for dealing with the crisis cannot exist without substantial restructuring of debt and strong growth, Democratic Left (DIMAR) leader Fotis Kouvelis said commenting on Eurogroup’s statement regarding the Greek debt.

“Its current form makes the restructuring of payments – reduction of interest rates, extension of repayment period, excluding the banks’ recapitalization cost from the debt – possible and, in parallel, a European mutualisation of debt,” Fotis Kouvelis said and urged the government to make timely and publicly proposals for the relief, stating that: “Debt is not dealt with optimistic and unrealistic scenarios of primary surpluses, high revenues from privatisations and unrealistic growth.”

“The memorandum obsessions of deep recession failed to address the debt problem and this will continue as long as the Greek economy remains trapped in these policies,” he said adding that the country has to seek, within the EU context, a serious relief debt.

Referring to the Democratic Left’s main political objective for the upcoming Euroelections, Fotis Kouvelis said it is “to secure a strong political mandate and enhance the proposal for a gradual exit from the crisis with responsibility, stability and social cohesion as well as to send out a message of change of Europe’s political scenery”.

Kouvelis stressed the importance of a policy change in Greece through the reduction of the unemployment and the protection of the unemployed, increase of minimum wages, restoring and reinstating labour rights by securing pensions and preventing any further cuts, reorganizing the public sector and disassociating mobility from layoffs, offering liquidity to the real economy and establishing a fair and stable tax system.

“The basic goal is the claim of a new agreement with the partners that will effectively reduce the debt and pave the way for growth, with environment sensibility, focus on job creation and social cohesion,” he underlined.