EU Commissioner Blasts Greek Agricultural Policies

The European commissioner shocked Greek parliamentarians stressing that they cannot constantly be begging and demanding exceptions to rules. Mr. Ciolos was reacting to statements by deputies for a need for a special handling of Greece, in light of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), but also to admonitions by some that they would abrogate the memorandum when they got to power.

"Greece has always been at the margin and always asked for exceptions to the rule in order to support its agriculture.Now you tell me, you don't agree with the CAP. Once again, you want an overall model taking the average holding as the model, and the rest being exceptions," said the commissioner.

As to the memorandum, although Mr. Ciilos stated that he did not want to get into the issue, he noted that lending countries want to know that their money is being spent wisely.