Samaras to FT: "Give your instructions elsewhere"

A harsh attack against Alexis Tsipras, whom he characterized as a representative of the drachma lobby, was launched from Syntagma by ND president Antonis Samaras, adding that “those who will be favored from the return to the drachma are the new oligarchs”.

He mentioned the German Financial Times report harshly: “It is an intentional publication by some who want Greece out of the euro. We do not want to play this game. We want Greece within Europe. These are games of the foreign press, tricks and staged provocations. We will not let anyone get us out of Europe, playing games at the expense of our country. We will not let the country be any illegal immigrant’s or illegal perpetrator’s playground”. He continued by stating that he will “stay true to this promise for growth and jobs for young people”.

Mr. Samaras said that elections are crucial and will be played out until the last ballot.

The ND president said that there are seven critical dilemmas that the people are called to respond to.

The first crucial question is euro or drachma. If we returned to the drachma we would jump back 50 years. The second question is change of fiscal policy and development or disaster and a worse memorandum. “Tsipras wants to unilaterally terminate the loan agreement and sign a worse memorandum a short while later, outside the euro”.

The third dilemma is work or mass unemployment. If we are driven out of the euro, the economy will be halted and companies will have no liquidity. The fourth dilemma is between yesterday and tomorrow. What made us bankrupt is yesterday, which anyone can see in SYRIZA’s program - statism, populism, unaccountable corporations - Samaras said. “Everything that brought us here are expressed in SYRIZA’s program, where the deep sections of PASOK have moved to. On the other hand, we represent what must be changed so that we can become a modern European country”, he mentioned characteristically.

The fifth dilemma is between security and fear, stated Mr. Samaras, and added that “now that crime is rampant, they want to disarm the police. Today when Greece is overwhelmed by illegal immigrants, they ask them to bring their families. They promise travel documents so the immigrants can go to Europe. On the other hand, we have committed ourselves to strengthening the police, changing laws in order to stop impunity and pull off the hoods, removing illegal immigrants”.

The sixth dilemma is what kind of Greece we want, one with strong alliances or isolated by everyone? He continued by adding that “SYRIZA is seeking a breakage with our partners and exiting the euro, but wants us out of NATO. Outside the EU and NATO, will we not be a weak vulnerable country?”.

The last dilemma is government or anarchy. “SYRIZA wants a government of the Left, but other leftist parties reject his proposal. How will SYRIZA form a government? SYRIZA wants elections again, but if there is no government in the next few days the most possible thing is that we will never reach the new ones”, said Mr. Samaras and submitted his own proposal: “we ask for a government of national salvation for the good of the country under two conditions: staying in the euro and renegotiating the memorandum. Some say that euro or the drachma is a fake dilemma, but the silencing answer came from everywhere, from Hollande and from Cohn-Bendit, who characterized the unilateral termination of the loan agreement as nonsense”.

He said that the signs are promising but nothing has been judged and asked the Greeks to take their destiny into their own hands and vote with mind and heart alike. “These elections are not for a party, they are for Greece. Hardship unites us. We can change Greece in an ever-changing Europe. Three promises I do give you: Development, Social Justice, Security. The best antimemorandum policy is to exit the crisis as soon as possible, to eliminate recession and deficits and have no need for borrowed money or memoranda”.