Left-wing Greek opposition party SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said the European Central Bank (ECB) could not exclude Greece if it decides to move to a full “quantitative easing” program aimed at stimulating the eurozone’s faltering economy.
Speaking at a party congress on Saturday, three weeks before the Jan. 25 Greek general election, Tsipras also said that SYRIZA would ensure much of Greece’s debt was written off as part of a renegotiation of its international bailout deal.
The election takes place three days after a Jan. 22 policy meeting at which the ECB may decide to proceed with a quantitative easing program that would see billions of euros pumped into the eurozone by buying government bonds.
Tsipras said he hoped ECB President Mario Draghi would decide to go ahead with the program and that Greece could not be shut out, as some economists and politicians from nations including Germany have suggested.
“Quantitative easing by the ECB with direct purchases of government bonds must include Greece,” Tsipras said.
The comments underline the pressures facing Draghi ahead of the decision, with many in Germany opposed to full-scale quantitative easing measures which they fear would create asset bubbles and remove incentives for reform-shy governments to act.
SYRIZA, which holds a slim opinion-poll lead over Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ center-right New Democracy Party, has moderated its tone in recent months, pledging to keep Greece in the euro and not to unilaterally repudiate the bailout deal.
However, the prospect of a SYRIZA-led government has set financial markets on edge and caused alarm in Germany, where a succession of politicians and economists have argued the eurozone could absorb Greece’s exit.
In a speech laced with barbs against German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schaeuble, Tsipras said his party would roll back many of the austerity measures imposed by Greece’s so-called troika of creditors — the EU, IMF and the ECB.
“Austerity is both irrational and destructive. To pay back debt, a bold restructuring is needed,” he said.
Repeating many policy pledges first presented last year, he promised to do away with a real-estate tax, freeze house foreclosures, raise the minimum wage and reinstate a 12,000 euro (US$14,400) tax-free threshold to help low earners.
He said he would abandon the goal of achieving primary budget surpluses, aimed at cutting Greece’s debt burden equivalent to more than 175 percent of GDP.
However, he pledged to protect bank deposits and ensure public finances remain on a sound footing.
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