This is indicative of the problems Prime Minister Tsipras has in his policies, when dealing with hardline members of his own party and government. In Brussels last week, Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis expressed that his government had no ideological obsessions towards privatizations, which he considers crucial in the country's reform programme.
Just three days later, though, Energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, leader of SYRIZA's "Left-wing Platform" (one of the more communistic factions of the party) and Energy minister, repeated his position that the privatization process will not be completed.
The government will not proceed with the privatizations included in the memorandum or even more so with the fire sales of public assets and businesses, Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said in an interview with Greek daily Efimeritha ton Syntakton published on Saturday.
The minister defended the government’s "red lines" saying they exist and they will not be crossed. “We will not agree to a deal which will aim at cancelling the core of our radical, progressive programme,” Lafazanis was quoted as saying to the paper.
Asked about the TAP pipeline, the minister said the government supports the construction of the south corridor for natural gas adding the country claims some offsets from the deal.
Commenting on the election of Prokopis Pavlopoulos as the new Greek president, Lafazanis said: “As far as the political characteristics for the person who becomes President of the Republic, I had and still have my own opinions, which I had the opportunity to express to the prime minister and during the meeting of the parliamentary group. From then on, I stated clearly that I completely respect the choice made by [PM] Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA’s parliamentary group and this is why I voted in favour of Pavlopoulos’ election."
Source: AMNA
Οι πιο πρόσφατες Ειδήσεις
Διαβάστε πρώτοι τις Ειδήσεις για ό,τι συμβαίνει τώρα στην Ελλάδα και τον Κόσμο στο thetoc.gr
