Parliament Committee Opens Discussion on Draft State Budget for 2015
Parliament's Standing Committee on Economic Affairs began discussion of the state draft budget for 2015 on Tuesday, with introductory comments by the ruling coalition parties, New Democracy (ND) and PASOK.
ND's Andreas Lykourentzos and PASOK's Yiannis Koutsoukos' central argument was that the 2015 budget will be executed as successfully as that of 2014, as long as there is political stability in the country. Both referred to the predictions of main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) that were proven false about the current budget's execution.
SYRIZA's Efklidis Tsakalotos expressed doubt about the success of the government's policy, saying that the cost of the recession was not dealt with, investments did not return to Greece and exports cannot make up for the drop in the GDP.
MP Nikos Nikolopoulos, speaking for opposition Independent Greeks (ANEL), said that the indexes of the public deficit do not include the cost of banks' recapitalisation, while the primary surplus assessed is reached by the irregular inclusion in numbers of profitable local government agencies (OTA).