Spain and Portugal responded sharply Sunday to the new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras who accused them of having conspired against him, accusing him of seeking scapegoats to difficulties encountered in Greece.
In the first public clash with its European peers since taking office in January, Mr. Tsipras, leader of the radical left, on Saturday accused the Conservative governments of Madrid and Lisbon have been intransigent in negotiations on Greek debt, for electoral reasons. Even the tensions between Greek and German negotiators had not reached this level of attacks in the open.
Rajoy ironic about the frustration created by Tispras
“The party of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) decided that the fault of Greece’s problems fell on the Government of Portugal and the Spanish government,” quipped Sunday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. “We are not responsible for the frustration that created the Greek radical left by making promises she knew untenable,” has he won in front of party activists in Seville in Andalusia (south).
“If an enemy to look outside (…), we have seen many times in history, it does not solve problems, it only makes them worse,” he will -he said. “The only solution is to be serious.”
The Portuguese Government mentions “absurd accusations”
The tone was equally outraged Portugal. These charges “are totally absurd and (…) sad from a leader who should be up to its responsibilities,” blasted Marco Antonio Costa, spokesman for the ruling party PSD center right.
The statements of Mr. Tsipras “are very serious and lamentable false”, and “internal difficulties Syriza passes are not enough to justify” such remarks, he assured the sidelines of a meeting of the parties in power in Porto (north).
The compromise reached by Mr Tsipras in Brussels to extend help European Greece is challenged in its own ranks and sent down protesters in the street. On Saturday, he accused Spain and Portugal have wanted to drive his country to a “financial strangulation” in the negotiations.
Protests from Brussels
“These powers did not want the Greek example has an influence on other countries, especially in view of the elections in Spain” scheduled for November, and in September or October in Portugal, said Mr Tsipras .
Spanish radical left, Podemos, an ally of SYRIZA, is booming in the polls. It accuses Rajoy for imposing austerity to Spain to bend to pressure from Brussels and Germany.
In Portugal, the Socialist opposition as it criticizes the Conservative government not having resisted the “dictates” of Berlin. Beyond the declarations, the Spanish and Portuguese governments formally protested to Brussels.
Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has “expressed his perplexity in a note sent by the European institutions diplomatic channels, “he told AFP one of his spokesman.
Madrid for his part called on the European Council and the European Commission to” condemn the statements “from the Greek, a source of Spanish government.
“I do not think that the Commission will conduct a public condemnation” of Mr. Tsipras, “even though it does not say which approves,” responded a European source in Brussels. “In this very sensitive issue, the role of the Commission is to act as an intermediary and not to divide.”
Portuguese conservatives like Mariano Rajoy has publicly denied having taken a harder position than other governments in the euro zone during the negotiations, the latter stressing Sunday that group decisions are made at the ” unanimously “. “Spain has been and will remain supportive of the Greek people,” insisted the Spanish leader, claiming that it had helped Greece while Madrid was in “extremely difficult.”
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