Greece accuses EU, IMF
Greece: Greece has accused the European Union and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) of exceeding their duties by calling for massive
privatization to ease the country’s debt burden.
“The EU, European Central Bank and IMF representatives have gone
beyond their role,” AFP quoted Greek Finance Minister George
Papaconstantinou as saying Monday.
“They have acted in a unilateral manner on questions which are solely
the Greek government’s responsibility,” he complained.
Papaconstantinou made the comments during a parliamentary debate on
the 50-billion-euro privatization plan and other austerity measures
which have caused much dismay in Greece. The row broke out after the
European Union and the IMF quarterly inspection of Greece’s efforts to
recover from an economic crisis that pushed the EU member state on the
verge of bankruptcy last year. Nevertheless, Papaconstantinou did not
rule out putting the 50-billion-euro privatization plan into practice,
calling it ambitious but doable.
“In a country where we often leave our national assets unexploited,
there needs to be discussion on how we can really make them employ
them,” he said
One of the plans includes selling beaches to develop tourism and the
tourism housing market.
Thursday, Press TV |