Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras took the stand in Parliament prior to the voting of the 2015 Budget shortly after midnight on Sunday. He spent a great part of his speech lashing out at the main opposition leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras criticizing him of blackmailing deputies by stating that those who wouldn’t vote for the budget should keep the same line when it comes to voting for the Greek President.

He accused Mr. Tsipras of paying too much attentions to the opinion polls, without noting also that the people did not want early elections.

Speaking about hunger striker Nikos Romanos, Mr. Samaras told Mr. Tsipras that SYRIZA had supported his right to an education but had forgotten that this young man had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for armed robbery.

Mr. Samaras also said that SYRIZA has undermined the country’s exit from the memorandum. He pointed to the fact that both Mr. Tsipras and the Troika had been wrong when they had said that previous budgets would be implemented.

He said that the 2015 would have a 3% primary surplus so that Greece would no longer need to borrow for public spending. He said that Greece is asked to take measures by its international creditors that are of a restrictive nature and painful. He said that Greece has not agreed to take these because they are unnecessary and would hurt the economy. Nonetheless, some measures were accepted and these would be lifted if they are wrong. He pointed out that the next year will be a transitional period where Greece will borrow just to pay maturing loans rather than fund public spending. He referred to Mr. Tsipras statements for the explosion of debt from 125% to 180% by stating that debt will decrease as a percentage of the GDP now that growth has started.

He pointed to a delay to the Greek exit from the memorandum purely for technical reasons as they need to be approved by Parliaments.

Mr. Samaras showcased the coalition government’s success in having surpluses and tapping the markets earlier. He said that Greece was on the road to recovery.