Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-05-24
From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" <dist@hri.org>
CONTENTS
[01] Tsipras: 'We expect our partners to respect sacrifices of Greek
     people'
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[01] Tsipras: 'We expect our partners to respect sacrifices of Greek
people'

Greece has made its own concessions to complete the second program
review and implement reforms and it is now time for Germany and the
International Monetary Fund to make their own, Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras said on Wednesday, addressing the general assembly of the
Association of Industries of Northern Greece in Thessaloniki.

"We have made our own concessions and it is now time for Germany and the
International Monetary Fund to make their own," he said and expressed
his belief that in the three remaining weeks "everyone will rise to the
occasion and do whatever is necessary so that after seven years the road
towards an exit from supervision will open widely."

"We expect our partners to finally respect the sacrifices of the Greek
people with a comprehensive deal that will end the country's bondage,"
he noted.

Continuing on the efforts to achieve an agreement with the institutions,
he said his government made a great concession to fulfill one of the
two conditions presented by the IMF to participate in the program,
which was to legislate in advance measures for 2019 and 2020.

"And now it is the duty of Europe to satisfy this second condition, which
is the measures on debt, because it was Europe, or some of our partners,
who demand the participation of the IMF and this participation cannot
be a la carte. That is, we cannot say yes to reforms and the measures
and no to debt. You can't have your cake and eat it too," he said.

Responding to why Monday's Eurogroup failed to produce a deal on debt,
Tsipras said it was because there was an effort to promote a "blurred
solution".

"A solution that would perpetuate the problem. A solution that did not
correspond to the economic climate, the fiscal results of the Greek
economy or the sacrifices of the Greek people," he said. "Right now,
Greece and Europe need a clear solution. A solution that, one way of
another, will cut the Gordian knot," he noted.

Tsipras said Greece proposes a clear way out: "A proposal on Greek
debt that will constitute the minimum common denominator. For Greece,
for Germany, for the Fund, but also for all other Eurozone countries
and European institutions."