Former New Democracy leader and a candidate for the top job, Evangelos Meimarakis, was critical of the neoliberal policies of the leftist Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government during discussion of the Greek budget for 2016 at Greek Parliament on Saturday. He said that the government was brash in expecting consensus from the opposition pointing out that it is one thing to have national understanding, another to want convergence, another to want support, and quite a different thing to have universality.

He stressed that before SYRIZA took power, Greece was about to start walking before it shot the country in the foot. “You want consensus against whom? Against pensioners?” he asked.

“From the SYRIZA calling for (citizens) not to pay that you once were, you are now the SYRIZA of let’s pay more,” he said.