| Series Title | EurActiv |
|---|---|
| Series Details | 09.02.15 |
| Publication Date | 09/02/2015 |
| Content Type | News |
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Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras gave his first major speech to the national parliament on 8 February 2015, in which he outlined his government's intention to dismantle the country's austerity programme. Mr Tsipras ruled out any extension of its international bailout and set himself on a collision course with his European partners, ahead of a Eurogroup summit on 11 February 2015, as you can check here. According to his speech, pension bonuses would be reinstated, a property tax would be cancelled to end mass layoffs and the mininum wage would be raised back to pre-crisis levels. Mr Tsipras also vowed to seek war reparations from Germany from World War Two. Such claims were rejected by the German government. On the same day, in an interview with Italian broadcaster RAI, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis warned that if Greece was forced out of the eurozone, other countries like Portugal and Italy would inevitably follow, resulting in the collapse of the Eurozone. His comments were criticised by the Italian government. The Greek defence minister Panos Kammenos stated in the meantime that Greece could turn to the US, Russia or China if it failed to reach a new debt agreement with the eurozone. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker had said the EU would not bow to demands from Mr Tsipras. |
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| Source Link | http://www.euractiv.com/sections/euro-finance/tsipras-defies-eu-ruling-out-bailout-extension-311928 |
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| Countries / Regions | Europe, Greece |
