SYRIZA insists it is not planning to seize taxpayers' deposits

SYRIZA denied on Monday that it has plans to seize Greeks’ savings if it comes to power.

The leftists were forced into making a statement after New Democracy attacked veteran SYRIZA MP Manolis Glezos. The veteran lawmaker, who is also a candidate for European Parliament, suggested in an interview over the weekend that a leftist government might seek to raise funds from citizens through extraordinary measures.

He did not go into specifics but later insisted that he meant this would focus on high incomes rather than people’s savings, regardless of their earnings.

New Democracy, however, claimed that Glezos had adopted the idea of forced internal lending, meaning Greeks would have to give up some of their deposits to fund the economy. It made reference to a previous interview in which the MP allegedly suggested that this would apply to anyone with a gross annual income over 30,000 euros.

“SYRIZA is intentionally trying to destabilize the Greek economy,” said government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou.

Glezos and SYRIZA denied the accusations. The leftists accused Kedikoglou of “distortion” and denied that the party has ever adopted an official position that calls for savings to be confiscated.