ND leader Antonis Samaras on Thursday commented on the outcome of the EU summit, noting that the decision reached clearly proves that the government policy was a mistake, leading to a dead end, while adding that “no reference is made to economic recovery, therefore, the mistake remains and is being prolonged.”

“The crucial question is not the size of the ‘haircut’ but how the Greek economy will exit recession and produce primary surpluses to be able to stand on its own feet,” main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras said on Thursday, in comments regarding the eurozone loan agreement for Greece.

“Everything depends on one thing, namely, setting economic recovery as a priority and for this to happen the policy implemented needs to change. Not change the deficit reduction goal but change everything that blocks the road to recovery, like taxation raids and horizontal cuts,” Samaras said.

“ND will continue to say ‘no’ to the mistake,” Samaras stressed and maintained that “the cycle has run its course for this government”.

Samaras focused his criticism on the fact that the decision reached clearly proves that the government policy was a mistake, leading to a dead end, and he underlined that based on how things have turned out “it appears that this decision was inevitable”.

“The country’s debt in 2020 will be 120 percent of GDP, equalling the 2009 debt before the memorandum,” he said, adding that this prediction leaves no room for celebrations on behalf of the government.

“No reference is made to economic recovery, therefore, the mistake remains and is being prolonged,” Samaras said.

Referring to the “haircut”, he emphasised that the debt reduction will be less than 100 billion euros because the debt will be augmented as a result of the recapitalisation of the banks. He also underlined that nothing specific has been said about the fate of the social insurance funds, an issue of major importance that concerns the pensions of millions of Greeks. “They say that they are guaranteed. How and by whom,” he asked.

Samaras said that there is vagueness on how the credibility of the new bonds will be achieved and as regards the extent of the voluntary participation of the private sector. Referring to the impact the decision will have on the eurozone, he said that it is obvious that the EFSF is not reinforced enough to handle the pressures exerted by speculators on the secondary market.

He made a special reference to the issue of national sovereignty stressing that “it should be safeguarded”. He added that “we have no reason to hand it over to anybody,” and stressed that this is forbidden by the Constitution and the European treaties.

ND spokesman Yiannis Michelakis commenting on the permanent presence of troika (EC-ECB-IMF) representatives in Greece he said that it “has been made clear that receiving technical assistance is totally different from ceding substantive authority to any foreigner.” He also said that “ceding sovereign rights through the loan agreement is unconstitutional.”