SYRIZA highlights 'red lines' in creditor talks, asks people to back efforts

Even as negotiations with Greece's creditors enter a critical phase, the political secretariat of SYRIZA has indicated that the party will not back down from its so-called red lines, reaffirming pre-election promises to protect pensioners and workers.

In a statement issued late on Thursday after a stormy session of senior party cadres, the secretariat said, "the red lines of the government are also red lines of the Greek people, expressing the interests of workers, the self-employed, pensioners, farmers and young people." Underlining the need for the debt-racked country to return to a path of growth and social justice, the statement referred to "the persistence of creditors on enforcing the memorandum program of the Samaras government" whom it accused of exercising pressure through politics and by restricting liquidity. The fixation on austerity was "paving the way for the far-right," it added.

The secretariat stressed that the demands of creditors "cannot be accepted, adding that SYRIZA MPs and officials would continue efforts to inform the Greek people and to invite them to join "a mobilization toward the victory of democracy and dignity." "Now is the time for the people to join the battle," it said.

The statement followed a feverish session during which Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis is said to have come under fire by many SYRIZA officials for making concessions to creditors. Senior SYRIZA MP and Parliament Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou was said to be among those who claimed the government has ceded too much ground from its pre-election pledges.