Tsakalotos: ND, SYRIZA should cooperate to reduce surplus target

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said that SYRIZA and New Democracy should cooperate and forge a common front toward creditors in demanding a reduction of the high, 3.5 percent of GDP primary surplus target, the results of which he said fuel the rise of the far right.

Effectively, Tsakalotos completely agreed with main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis that there must a push to reduce those targets through a negotiation with creditors with a credible growth strategy, which he said New Democracy does not have.

Fueling the far right, populism

"There is consensus across the political divide on this issue. I think 3.5 percent - and I've said it for an awful long time - is too high, especially for a country that has lost 27 percent of its GDP. I don't think this should be something that we should disagree about," Tsakalotos told CNBC television in an interview.

Seeking consensus with Mitsotakis

"We should go together and say in a Europe that has taken a lesson from the rise of the radical right and populist forces that such high primary surplus targets only feed into discontent, not only with political parties but with the political process itself. So I have no disagreement with the leader of the opposition that we need to do this, and it would be nice if he had a less conflictual attitude so that we actually could have consensus on this issue.

Asked whether if New Democracy comes to power SYRIZA would support him in renegotiating primary surplus targets with creditors Tsakalotos said, "We wouldn't change our position just because New Democracy was in power - I don't think it is very likely that they will be in power but in the unlikely and unfortunate eventuality that they are in power, of...