Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met yesterday in Athens with visiting Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann. In joint statements to the press afterwards, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made it clear that the government would not hesitate to say no to an agreement that would not be "an honourable compromise." He ruled out a referendum and said: "There is one choice: a solution that is economically viable and can be accepted by society and Parliament," adding that if there was such a compromise, he would accept the cost of seeing an agreement through to the end.

On his part, Faymann - who visited an Athens hospital, clinics and SOS Childrens’ Villages - announced that he would undertake an initiative to mediate between the Greek government and the institutions, aiming at a convergence between the two sides and an agreement. He also expressed his full support for the Greek people, pointing out that the crisis was not caused by wage earners and pensioners. "I promise to fully support you," he said, addressing Tsipras, while adding that European Commission President Juncker also wanted an agreement.

In an op-ed in the German daily Der Tagesspiegel titled "German taxpayers are not paying for Greek pensions" (17.06) premier Tsipras explains that the increase in Greek pension expenditure as a percentage of GDP, which fuels the popular myth that Germans are paying for Greek pensions, is entirely due to a decline in GDP, and not to an increase in expenditure. 

He stressed that in "2010-2014, about €13 bn were removed from the social security system with a corresponding reduction in pensions and allowances at a rate of about 50%, a fact which has exhausted any margin for further reductions without undermining the operational core of the system."

Tsipras underlined that the pensions of the elderly are often the ultimate safety net in a country with 25% unemployment in the general population, and 50% among young people. He added that the government is determined on implementing reforms in favor of the sustainability of the system, namely the abolition of the early retirement option and the reduction of the operating expenses of the pension funds.