Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras returned to a defiant tone vis-à-vis creditors on Tuesday -- almost a year and a half after the third memorandum was signed -- saying “we won’t ask anyone”, in reference to his announcement of a one-off 617-million-euro "holiday bonus" for some 1.6 million pensioners in the country.
His strongly worded message came hours after a particularly critical blog post by two top IMF officials pinned part of the blame on the Tsipras government for the country’s continued economic ills and its strained negotiations with creditors.
“We will adhere to the (Greek bailout) program to the letter, but whatever out-performance in revenue arises, by following to the program, we will not ask anyone in order to give this money to those most in need,” Tsipras said from the remote eastern Aegean isle of Nisyros.
Moreover, he referred to “foolish technocrats” in deflecting the sharp IMF criticism.
“…They (IMF) have admitted many times that they’ve made mistakes with the numbers, but they keep telling us again and again that the mistake is correct; and they told us back in 2010 that with this program we will exit the crisis,” he said.
He also blamed the Fund for imposing a harmonization of VAT rates in various Greek islands – from remote Nisyros to jet-setting Mykonos – with the rest of Greece.
“…without understanding what an islands means; without ever visiting a small and isolated isle in the winter,” as he charged.
