The country has existed for ten years now, because we have this advantage, he said, noting that Greece then achieved very small interest rate solutions.
If we had not intervened in the debt in 2012 we would not have existed as a country, we would not have been able to face the subsequent crises, said Evangelos Venizelos speaking to SKAI and the show “Mismatches” on the occasion of the presentation of his new book “Versions of War 2009 – 2022”.
The country has existed for ten years now, because we have this advantage, he said, noting that Greece then achieved very small interest rate solutions.
Talking about the book, he said that till 2015 it covers the period of all three governments which should be seen as a single one in terms of accountability.
Speaking of her first Tsipras government said it led the country to a period of national risk in the first half of 2015.
Regarding the first memorandum, even if the negotiation was sufficient, he replied that “at that time there was no room for negotiation”, since even the Europeans did not know what was coming. Europe believed it had secured an eternal peace, Mr Venizelos said.
That’s why, he went on, he came after the IMF, but even this did not have the experience of a country of the economic level of Greece, which also belonged to the eurozone. “It’s one thing to intervene in a western country that is also in the Eurozone,” he said.
Asked if something is missing from the first memorandum he said that the debt intervention is missing, for which he said the conditions had to mature. “Greece didn’t ask for it at the time and the Europeans didn’t know how much it would cost.”
The first program couldn’t stand, he said characteristically, that’s why it was so short.
Regarding how he took over the Ministry of Finance, he said that it was the alternative to the communication that George Papandreou had begun to have with Antonis Samaras for consultation.
“Alternative was the restructuring and I took over the Ministry of Finance” he said.
He added that the manipulations of 2010 led to the great adventure for PASOK, which lost a large part of its voters, while New Democracy kept its percentages.
“The public of PASOK moved to a large extent to SYRIZA, looking for the most radical option, the voters had previously been nurtured in a politics of benefits in a permanent improvement of living standards,” he said.
Speaking of 2015 he said that in the first half of the year the country made a big regression that took it backwards. “The situation would have been different if, in February 2015, Alexis Tsipras had confirmed the agreement of November 2014. I had taken the papers to Tsipras, because I suspected that the Ministry of Finance had not given them to him,” said Mr. Venizelos .
For 2015 referendum he said it was the “absolute humiliation of the Greek people”.
In question with who did he work best with?, with Giorgos Papandreou or with Antonis Samaras, answered that an emotional relationship developed with Antonis Samaras, because “we were lifting a heavy burden”. “And it was overstepping what he did, he was walking into a minefield, he and his party paid the price,” he said.
Early elections
When asked if he believes that early elections will be held, he replied that he is watching the only competent person, i.e. the prime minister, since he determines the time of the elections.
He added that after the explicit commitment of Kyriakos Mitsotakis that there will be no immediate elections, he cannot return, unless there is some national crisis but unforeseen causes, outside of the landscape we are describing now.
“The only question is whether we will have a change in the electoral law, whether we will have a more strengthened proportionality in the second elections,” he noted.
For Turkish provocation he said if you want to avoid the hot episode you avoid it. “Neither Greece nor Turkey wants a heated episode” he emphasized, adding that Turkey is a country with huge problems along its border and that the most peaceful and civilized is the Greek-Turkish border.
In question about post-election partnerships he said that this question will be answered by the Greek people. “Each party should answer what government they want. If the country is led to second elections, there the cards will be opened,” he stressed.
Asked about him Nikos Androulakis, said he is a young man managing an interesting situation. The area of ​​PASOK must have a stable and genuine relationship with the centrist area, to show that it is a faction that exists thanks to the homeland. I am not saying that he should join the government. The new leadership team must be tested, each generation has its own trials and historical results.
In response to a question about the possibility of him participating in a government, he answered in the negative, saying that in order for such a thing to happen “there must be a huge national problem, we must enlist, but I am not looking for such roles”.
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