ND: Country heading in wrong direction

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) press spokesman Yiannis Michelakis on Wednesday reiterated a statement by ND shadow economy minister Christos Staikouras stressing the need for the immediate creation of an adequate regulatory framework for the operation of credit rating agencies and the establishment of a European credit rating agency, but added that the content of the evaluation by Standard & Poor’s in its announcement on Tuesday that it was downgrading Greece’s credit rating “is just one more confirmation that the country is heading in the wrong direction”.

According to Staikouras, the policy mix being followed by the government is leading the economy into vicious circles of recession and overindebtedness.

He also accused the government of being unable to clamp down on tax evasion, boost revenues, contain expenditure and achieve the fiscal targets for both 2010 and 2011.

Staikouras warned that the government will be forced into increasingly harsher and ineffective measures, and he reiterated ND’s call for a change of the economic policy mix being followed.