Sant – European socialists should take position on Greek debt

The head of Labour’s delegation to the EP, MEP Alfred Sant, said that the Socialists & Democrats’ position on Greek demands for debt relief should be different from that of right-wing parties demanding adherence to repayment conditions on Greece’s €317 debt programme.

“The S&D position should be different from the right wing’s, to help the electorate make the distinction between the right and the social democrats,” Sant said. “The S&D should act on the Greek proposal by agreeing on a radical restructuring of the loans being carried by the Greek government, nothwithstanding that some member states might argue that this might imperil the Greek loans.”

Sant, a former prime minister, said that Greece should pay back the money loaned to it under the EFSF and other bilateral loans, but that the eurozone must understand that resturing plan given to Greece was not being achieved.

“The burdens of this plan were detrimental to workers and pensioners and to those in the lowest strata of society in Greece. This should not be acceptable for Socialists in Europe,” Sant said.

Alfred Sant said that Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) should take a position as soon as possible on the proposal of the new Greek government on its pending loans to the  other eurozone countries.

Greece’s new prime minister Alexis Tsipras, of the radical left party Syriza, wants debt relief but also to halt privatisations and re-emply public sector workers, against the demands of the troika that imposed an austerity programme on the country for its bailout.