Flambouraris leaves open referendum possibility

“We got a mandate two months ago, we will implement it, we don’t need elections,” he added. “I don’t think we should go to elections,” he said and noted: “In case of an impasse, we could also consider the possibility of a referendum. It does not hurt to ask the Greek people over historic decisions.”

Referring to the negotiations, he spoke of a “tough battle, which will be won,” and reiterated that the government will not back down on “issues which led the country to its present tragic situation.” “The issue is not whether this will be delayed by a week or 10 days but to have an agreement,” he said and expressed his optimism over the reaching of an agreement with the lenders.

He stressed that “there are points of compromise” in the proposals submitted to the partners and commenting on the reports that lenders disagree with Athens’ proposals, he said this is news “circulated by several media, which is also reproduced by Greek media.”

He insisted “there is no way the lenders would not back down” and explained that “Europe’s sovereign powers have not decided to break the Union apart. On what grounds will it be Greece to leave and not Italy or France. This will be costly.” However, he ruled out the possibility of the government causing an accident saying that “the popular mandate for a solution within the euro” was very clear. On the migration issue, he noted that “the refugee issue is a comprehensive issue of Europe that we need to resolve together.”

“The Greece of the crisis cannot take all the war refugees,” he stressed and added: “No one is telling us what should be done with those people.” Referring to a possible temporary solution, he said the proper conditions should be created so that these people can stay here for a while.

Alternate Migration Policy Minister Tasia Christodoulopoulou, he said, is making a big effort. “There is an effort to find places, such as old military camps, or abandoned buildings, where they can stay temporarily. We have appealed to (EU Commissioner Dimitris) Avramopoulos for a solution. If we don’t have the solution, then we must take temporary measures so that people don’t die in the middle of the street and then, in cooperation with Europe, we should resolve the issue,” he said referring to the government’s actions to address the issue.