News Digest

Juncker accuses Greek PM of twisting EU’s words to Greeks

Jean-Claude Juncker rebuked Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accusing him of giving his voters a deliberately distorted version of proposals the EU chief executive had made to resolve Athens’ debt crisis. The flash of anger, as European Commission President Juncker prefaced an answer at a news conference by saying he cared about Greece’s people but not its government, was in sharp contrast to his efforts over the past four months to befriend the novice leftist premier in the course of tortuous negotiations. Underlining the sour mood between Athens and Brussels, the Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis insisted the government had not twisted Juncker’s position and said the veteran EU dealmaker was either unaware of his staff’s proposals or his memory was failing.

I don’t care about the Greek government….I do care about the Greek people, mainly the poorest part. The debate in Greece and outside Greece would be easier if the Greek government would tell exactly what the Commission … are really proposing.

Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President

Greece is struggling to avoid a default in two weeks that could bounce it out of the euro. Prime Minister Tsipras had claimed to his parliamentary allies that EU and IMF creditors were demanding pension cuts and tax hikes to ‘humiliate’ the Greek government and an entire people. Among lenders’ proposals, he said, was a 10-percentage point increase in the value-added tax on electricity. Other ministers have criticised suggestions to hike VAT on medicines. At a news briefing in Brussels, Juncker, 60, effectively accused the 40-year-old Tsipras of misleading voters. A Greek government spokesman said it had never said the proposals were the Commission’s alone.