Rachel Makri first made the comment during a television debate on Thursday in the northwestern Greek city of Kozani, which she represented as a MP since 2012 and where she stands for re-election.
A general election is scheduled for Jan. 25, following Parliament failure to elect a new president of the republic, triggering a snap poll.
“Yes, we can print euros,” she told protothema.gr on Friday, amid a crescendo of mostly negative reactions to her statement, including a sharp rebuke by the ruling New Democracy (ND) spokeswoman and comments by SYRIZA cadres distancing themselves from the statement.
“Yes, we can print euros in case of an emergency. In any case, ND has already printed 90 billion euros, and its cadres are now attacking me out of ignorance,” Makri told protothema.gr.
According to Makri, “the unethical attack on SYRIZA by the very political parties that distort the truth simply ridicules them … I was asked what we (a SYRIZA government) would do if the European Central Bank choked off liquidity; I answered that we would use the emergency liquidity assistance mechanism (ELA), as foreseen by the eurozone’s institutional framework. ”
Beyond the negative reactions by other political parties, at least two well-known SYRIZA politicians, MP Dimitris Papadimoulis and MEP Nikos Chountis indirectly commented on Makri’s statement. “Candidates shouldn’t improvise if they don’t know an issue,” was the former’s quip, while Chountis remarked that “we’re not saying any such thing.
