Tsipras: We will not back down on what we announced

He also reckoned that common ground has been found with the partners on reforms. “Our programme was presented in the policy statements and this is the programme we have committed ourselves to. This four-year programme will be implemented down to the last detail…The bills that the government has announced are non-negotiable and will be soon tabled in Parliament,” the premier said and added: “We have informed the institutions, we are open to their proposals but in Greece the Greek people voted, they chose a government to govern.” 

Mr Tsipras also said “Greece is not a colony” and that “there is no way back to the memorandum for Greece.” He cleared out that “there is no risk for wages and pensions and no threat for deposits in Greece.

“The Eurogroup agreement on February 20 was clear and agreements are to be kept. We keep it and we expect the other side to do so as well,” he said and noted: “We had elections in Greece and the people’s vote brought down Samaras’ government. If they think that they will insist on the new government implementing what Samaras’ government left behind, then I am sorry but we will let them down.” He also reckoned that “the key” for a decent compromise is the “acknowledgement that the previous policy of extreme austerity has failed not only in Greece but throughout Europe.”