Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reportedly told members of his ruling SYRIZA party’s political secretariat on Monday evening that “growth and measures after 2019” are not compatible, referring reports of increased pressure by creditors for the current leftist government to commit now austerity measures worth more than four billion euros.
The statement was conveyed to the press via “party sources”, which added that this will be Tsipras’ message this week in meetings in Brussels and Berlin with European leaders.
In an apparent preview of Tsipras’ arguments, the same unnamed sources the Greek premier cited a period of “general uncertainty” in Europe, whereby a stabilization of the crisis-plagued Greek economy isn’t compatible with new austerity measures after 2019.