Venizelos: No additional measures

Deputy Prime Minister and PASOK President Evangelos Venizelos stated that the members of the parliamentary groups of New Democracy and PASOK took part in the negotiations with the troika improving the agreements and preventing the imposition of new measures.

In an interview Wednesday afternoon Venizelos said the MPs of the parliamentary majority were present in the negotiation and there will be no additional austerity measures.

He also spoke about the retribution of the Greek people’s sacrifices, the turn towards growth, the primary surplus that will strengthen the real economy and that the Greek government had to preserve branches of Greek economy, such as farming.

Venizelos also said that Greece has achieved a lot and at the same time a lot of people appear distressed, as they do not want to admit that the country emerges from recession.

In response to criticism from the opposition regarding the primary surplus, he said its distribution is not charity, but social and political development.

Commenting on the poll results, he said that on one hand there is a problem of representativeness and on the other, PASOK pays the political price because it made the "choice of responsibility."

For the crisis in Ukraine, the Deputy Prime Minister said that it is necessary to find a solution through political and diplomatic means, with respect to the existing borders and territorial integrity.

Referring to the Greek positions, he said that they are formed in the framework of principles, taking into account the possible impact on Greek national issues.

For the EU's role in the Ukrainian crisis, Venizelos said that apparently they did not anticipate that it would reach this point and did not have a plan against a Euro-Russian crisis.