Former finance minister and PASOK party leader Evangelos Venizelos on Monday said the Tsipras government has already passed a fourth memorandum, in comments aimed to deflate the current leftist-rightist coalition's communication "counter-offensive" of a permanent exit from the bailout era after August 2018.
"What Mr. Tsipras says, namely, an end of the third memorandum and a 'clean' exit to the markets, in my opinion, means absolutely nothing, because the SYRIZA-ANEL (coalition) government has long ago voted for a fourth memorandum," Venizelos told Athens-based Skai television station.
Venizelos, a veteran politician and top PASOK cadre for nearly two decades who currently serves as a Parliament deputy, said the oft-cited "clean exit" is nothing but a transition period from the current third bailout - which foresees supervision, austerity measures and very low interest-laden loans - with a fourth memorandum, "which has supervision, measures and very difficult fiscal targets".
Asked about a document reportedly composed by the Bank of Greece, and dated Oct. 6, 2009, which refers to a budget deficit of roughly 15 percent for that year, Venizelos defended the Papandreou government that emerged from the October 2009 election, saying it inherited a fiscal situation "which it managed under tremendous pressure".
