A high-ranking government minister on Thursday evening hinted that a fourth memorandum will be needed for currently bailout-dependent Greece, although he later charged his statement was taken out of context and intentionally misinterpreted.
Interior Minister Panos Skourletis, who gravitates to the more radical left and anti-capitalist wing of the current ruling party, told a party gathering that those who want another bailout forced upon Greece are the IMF, Wolfgang Schaeuble and the center-right main opposition New Democracy (ND) party.
"…some voices are heard saying that we possibly need a new (bailout) memorandum. But, isn’t this what they were saying in 2010?; in 2011? ... namely, that a failure of this policy is that it generates the need for a new (economic) recipe, the same as the previous one, for a new memorandum; for a recycling of austerity," Skourletis said in a address that was later posted on social media.
"I believe, therefore, that we are before this moment. Didn’t we not know this when we assumed the government? Of course, we knew … The people know that those who want a fourth memorandum are the IMF, Schaeuble and ND".
Following a mini-furor of reactions over his statements, Skourletis blamed what he called "systemic mass media …who in cooperation with the domestic ‘troika’, the IMF and Schaeuble, are trying to make their aspiration into reality."
He also said the statement was lifted from an address lasting 52 minutes.
