European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis on Monday referred directly to a “populist” policy by what he called a Greek left-wing government under Alexis Tsipras as exacerbating austerity in the crisis-plagued country in 2015.
"Populism doesn't solve problems. Populism creates problems," Dombrovskis told a round-table in Riga.
"We could see that in the ... classic example of Greece. A new government came with a populist stance, that we don’t need any austerity regimes, we will spend as much as we want," he said.
"And, in fact, Greece now implements tougher austerity measures than it would have been necessary if reforms of the previous government were continued at the time," he added.
The story was widely disseminated by Reuters, among others.
