Greece: EU, IMF exceeded their role

Greece has accused the European Union and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) of exceeding their duties by calling for massive privatization to ease the country’s debt burden.

“The EU, European Central Bank and IMF representatives have gone beyond their role,” AFP quoted Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou as saying on Monday.

“They have acted in a unilateral manner on questions which are solely the Greek government’s responsibility,” he complained.

Papaconstantinou made the comments during a parliamentary debate on the 50-billion-euro privatization plan and other austerity measures which have caused much dismay in Greece.

The row broke out after the European Union and the IMF quarterly inspection of Greece’s efforts to recover from an economic crisis that pushed the EU member state on the verge of bankruptcy last year.

Nevertheless, Papaconstantinou did not rule out putting the 50-billion-euro privatization plan into practice, calling it ambitious but doable.

“In a country where we often leave our national assets unexploited, there needs to be discussion on how we can really make them employ them,” he said

One of the plans includes selling beaches to develop tourism and the tourism housing market.