Alexis Tsipras, was quoted as predicting the country's default, while also forecasting that the government will "soon present" a return to a national currency (drachma) as a national success.

Tsipras predicts Greek default

21 Jul 2012

Tsipras said that very soon, the government would be "presenting" a return to the drachma as a solution (file photo) The leader of the main opposition Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) party, Alexis Tsipras, was quoted as predicting the country's default, while also forecasting that the government will "soon present" a return to a national currency (drachma) as a national success. In an interview published with Real News newspaper on Saturday, Tsipras said any re-negotiation of a memorandum signed by Greece with its EC-ECB-IMF creditors ended on the night of the June 17 election, while charging that any payment extension is "essentially a longer rope with which to hang ourselves." He also criticised the government for abandoning, as he said, any discussion over restoring cuts made to pensioners receiving low pensions, re-instituting collective bargaining talks and increasing the tax-free ceiling for individual taxpayers. He even attacked Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, for whom he had spoken positively of during the vote of confidence discussion in parliament, saying he is the definition of a finance minister that the EC-ECB-IMF 'troika' would have chosen. (AMNA)   http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/57139