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Deal with Greece will not work, says Guy Verhofstadt
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"Greece is passing a lot of legislation, but is not implementing it," said Guy Verhofstadt. (Photo: ALDE)
By ALDE
Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the European Liberals and Democrats, is very critical of the deal reached between Greece and its creditors.
During a press conference "The truth about Greece" on Wednesday (25 May), Verhofstadt urged creditors to finally realise that their strategy is not going to work:
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"The marriage between Greece and its creditors can be described as one in which both partners cheat with mutual consent. However, most marriages break up when partners fail to tell each other the truth. To avoid a break-up, we need to come clean now," he said.
"Greece is passing a lot of legislation, but is not implementing it. It is shocking to see that 74% of the legislation that has been adopted since the first bailout package has never been implemented. If we keep our eyes closed to this reality, the new tranche will again be a waste of tax payer's money."
Verhofstadt proposed a fundamental new approach to change the focus from pure accountancy measures to real modernisation measures.
"The only way to save Greece is by radically modernising the country. The Greek government should make a more serious effort to combat clientelism, reform the public administration, modernise the justice system, make sure that taxes are collected and put in place targeted tax cuts for SMEs."
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