Greece accuses IMF of Portugal bias

As talks between Athens and international negotiators continue to face successive setbacks, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday expressed his regret that proposals presented by his Government have been constantly thrown out while a country like Portugal was never subjected to that sort of treatment during bailout negotiations.

In two separate tweets, Alexis Tsipras took to Twitter to lam- bast the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank.

“The repeated rejection of equivalent measures by certain institutions never occurred before – neither in Ireland nor Portugal”, the Greek Prime Minister wrote in his post, suggesting that the impasse in negotiations with international lenders was not over the value of the cuts being proposed by Athens, but rather as to who the Greek Government had identified to be subjected to additional austerity.

He underlined this sentiment in a subsequent tweet in which he assumed an accusatory tone: “This odd stance seems to indicate either there is no interest in an agreement or that special interests are being backed.”

The leftist Greek Government has refused to enforce cuts which it says will require extreme sacrifices from the lower and middle classes, instead saying it will raise funds by taxing the rich.

The EU has replied that this is unacceptable as it would stem any hope Greece has of economic recovery and purely pave the way for future bailouts.

