Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sat for a lengthy press briefing on Sunday in Thessaloniki, taking questions from numerous reporters - including two media outlets directly affiliated with his own ruling party - where, among others, he defended a June agreement between Athens and Skopje to finally resolve the fYRoM "name issue", while insisting that promises he made a day earlier for tax and contributions breaks are possible because his government is meeting and exceeding fiscal targets agreed to with institutional creditors.
He said the so-called "Prespes (Prespa) agreement" is a unique opportunity for the city of Thessaloniki and the northern Greece province of Macedonia, while at the same time safeguarding Greece's cultural heritage, as related to ancient Macedonia.
Tsipras spoke a day after inaugurating the 83rd Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) and giving an annual state-of-the-economy address at the same venue, another unofficial tradition for Greek premiers over the past decades.
In response to press questions, he said the Aug. 20, 2018 official end of the third bailout was not a communications ploy but a reality. At the same time, he said the country is unaffected, for at least two and a half years, from any turbulence in sovereign borrowing markets, given that it has built up a cash "cushion" exceeding 20 billion that will provide the country with liquidity. He was referring to a recent spike in spreads for Greek bonds, amid jitters over the Turkish economy, Italy's exposure to the bond markets and other international developments.
He dismissed criticism that the hike in Greek bond spreads was due to worries that he'll announce spending measures and a roll-back in reforms mandated under three successive memorandums.
Returning to the Prespes agreement, Tsipras precluded the possibility that the leader of his junior coalition partner, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, will "endanger" the recovery of the Greek economy and the country's political stability. Kammenos and his small right-wing AN.EL party have opposed any agreement that includes the name "Macedonia".
Turning to his primary political rival, main opposition New Democracy (ND) leadership Kyriakos Mitsotakis, he challenged the latter to vote down the agreement when it comes to Parliament and then tell the NATO alliance - among others - that he will not honor the bilateral agreement if he is elected as the Greek prime minister.
Regarding the same issue, he said Athens' intent was not to achieve a resolution that would be considered as "humiliating" by the other side.
In response to another press question, he dismissed speculation that he'll support another candidate for the post of president of the republic in 2020, saying the current president, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, is doing an excellent job. Greece's head of state exercises a wholly ceremonial role and is elected by a Parliament majority, nevertheless failure to elect a president can trigger a snap election. Such a development occurred in January 2015, when Tsipras' SYRIZA party and other anti-bailout MPs in Parliament caused a snap election, leading to the latter's accession to power.
At several times during the question-and-answer process, Tsipras disparagingly referred to a "Pinochet plan" by the main opposition for Greece's economy, and especially in the supplementary aspect of the social security system, countering with what he coined as a "Fair Growth" plan by the leftist-rightist coalition. As such, he even left open the possibility - beyond a suspension of scheduled pension cuts in January 2019 - of even avoiding the lowering of the tax-free annual income threshold, which is set for 2020.
ND, he charged, desperately wants to implement the austerity measures agreed to and passed by his government, measures he'd rather avoid.
Asked on three occasions about the devastating Mati wildfire last July, which has left nearly 100 people dead and generated a firestorm of criticism against the government, Tsipras denied that there was any cover-up, on the evening of the blaze, involving the fact that fatalities were reported, as well as the number of deaths. He also promised that a full investigation will be completed and publicly presented.
He again promised to exhaust his government's four-year mandate, and said the tax relief measures he announced a day earlier will be sent to Parliament by the end of 2018, whereas property tax reform will be left for completion in 2020.
Asked by a reporter from a pro-Kremlin news agency on whether he'll visit Moscow in 2018, Tsipras merely said an invitation has been extended, while pointing directly to a "mini adventure" in Greek-Russian relations over the recent period. He said diplomats from the two countries will determine a date and the scope of talks for any visit to Moscow. Tsipras was referring to the expulsion of two Russian diplomats by Athens earlier in the summer for their alleged attempts to stir up opposition to the Prespes agreement in northern Greece. Moscow retaliated by expelling two Greek diplomats.
Asked by "N" over the course of investments in the country in 2018, as H1 2018 results showed a slide compared to the same period in 2017, he appeared confident that the year will also eventually see investments reach last year's levels. In eschewing his once radical campaign trail language as the opposition leader, Tsipras on Sunday said luring and keeping investments means a "daily battle" with bureaucracy in Greece. He also said that while official unemployment remains high, at 19 percent, it's a fact that the jobless rate has been easing during his tenure, with the goal in the near future being 10 percent, but with full respect for labor rights.
