Pappas: Greek voters will have to choose between fair growth or IMF policies

Digital Policy, Telecoms & Media Minister Nikos Pappas said that "the Greeks will be called upon to choose whether the country will continue on the course of fair growth or return to IMF-styled policies," in statements to radio Real FM on Thursday.

Speaking on upcoming national elections and the closing of the gap between main opposition New Democracy (ND) and ruling SYRIZA, he cited the different results between the elections of May and June 2012 as a precedented in history of total reversal of the results from European to national elections.

"At national elections, with crucial dilemmas at stake and under an electoral law with very specific characteristics, it is perfectly clear that voters face critical choices. This is not the what happened at European elections," he noted.

Referring to the result of the Euroelections in which the ruling party registered losses, Pappas explained that voters were exhausted by the problems accrued from the loan memoranda demands, and despite the fact the government "has set the economy and society on a growth course and there are significant relief measures, the problems remain." He added, "This is something we can't ignore or pretend we don't understand."

The Digital Policy minister pointed out that it will take time to restore salaries and pensions to a higher level and to further strengthen the social state. "It is obvious that the government will be the object of discontent," which can be expressed by voting for other parties, the main competitor of the ruling party (ND), or even by abstaining, the latter of which is a regular phenomenon at Euroelections.