Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pointed to a need for improved labor relations in the recession-battered country and restoring collective bargaining agreements, during an address to an employers’ and industrialists’ group in Athens that mostly reiterated his government’s positions ahead of expected demands by creditors for reforms in the labor market.
Tsipras spoke on Tuesday at the annual Federation of Greek Enterprises (SEV) general assembly, and with visiting EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker by his side.
With labor sector reforms expected to form the backbone of prior actions demanded by institutional creditors ahead of autumn’s scheduled second review of the Greek program (third bailout), Tsipras appeared eager to delineate his leftist government’s boundaries in the face of possible future pressure.
“… if, amongst ourselves, we can achieve the triptych of mutual respect, co-responsibility and consensus in the taking of crucial decisions, then the country’s partners cannot but respect this convergence and agreement amongst social partners,” he said, adding “we have a common goal: an exit from the crisis”.
