The Greek government will not step back from it's programme, said Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, directly accusing Eurogroup president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem of switching the text that has been agreed upon during yesterdays Eurogroup meeting in Brussels.
“We want a solution, not conflict. We dont aim at conflict. We aim at a viable solution” he said.
“They can no longer treat Greece like a colony. They can no longer treat Greeks like the pariahs of Europe. We will not take a single step back from our programme”, he said during a speech to his party's parliamentary group.
He said that “during the Eurogroup meeting we were informed of a draft joint declaration that would be proposed by Pierre Moscovici. Moving to the limits of our red lines we accepted it as a framework for discussion. It refered to extension of the loan contract, not of the existing programme, that would lead to an interim 4 month agrrement as a transitional phase towards a contract for development in Greece.”
“Only 15 minutes before the beginning of the Eurogroup, Dijsselbloem replaced it with a new one that was unknown to us. This move was aimed at pushing us to non agreement as the new draft not only stipulated the extension of the Memorandum but also specified the measures we would have to adopt in order for it not to remain an empty text.”
Refering to recents comments by Germany's Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble who said the he feels sorry for Greeks that elected this government, he said that “Greeks are a proud people and he should not feel sorry for them”.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/tsipras-accuses-dijsselbloem-switching-texts