Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis has attacked a private debt proposal put forward by opposition leader Nikos Androulakis, calling the plan a disgrace.
Speaking in an interview with radio station SKAI 100.3, Georgiadis said he was left astonished after reading the policy put forward by the center-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement, known as PASOK. He questioned whether listeners truly understood what the opposition had proposed.
Under the plan presented by Androulakis, individuals who pay 70 percent of their private debt would have the remaining 30 percent written off. Georgiadis stressed that this forgiveness applied directly to the principal debt itself, rather than to accumulated interest or late payment penalties.
PASOK Debt Proposal
Georgiadis acknowledged that PASOK deserves respect for the sacrifices it made to keep Greece in the eurozone. He noted that the party suffered heavy political damage, lost key officials, and saw its voting percentages drop during the financial crisis to keep the nation using the shared currency.
However, the minister argued that a party which put so much effort into keeping Greece in the euro should not be introducing debt relief legislation similar to that of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in 2015. He described the proposal as belonging to the Tsipras era of 2015, adding it was not even equivalent to Tsipras in 2026.
Economic Warning
Returning to the issue in a subsequent television interview on ERT News, Georgiadis warned of severe economic consequences if the measure were ever passed by the Greek Parliament. He questioned why anyone would pay their debts in full if they knew that 30 percent would be forgiven for failing to pay.
Addressing PASOK directly, Georgiadis asked why the opposition wanted to blow Greece up. He asserted that if such a law were enacted by lawmakers in Athens, the country's borrowing interest rates would immediately surge, locking Greece out of international financial markets once again.
