EC VP Dombrovkis says Greek government decided to raise taxes

No definitive solution on May 24, he says

European Commission Vice President and and Commissioner for  the Euro and social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis said Greece’s creditors never asked for the imposition of taxes. In an interview to Greek newspaper ‘Kathimerini tis Kyriakis’, Dombrovskis claimed it was the Greek government choice to opt for the imposition of taxes instead of cutting expenditure in the public sector. ‘We pointed out that reducing public spending would be less detrimental to growth instead of raising taxes but the Greek government chose to impose taxes’, he said. Dombrovskis lowered the level of expectations about the outcome of the May 24 Eurogroup, saying that medium and long term measures will not have been decided upon by May 24. He added that the measures under discussion include the extension of loan payments, a grace period and the decrease of interest rates, in order to render the funding needs sustainable.