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Estonian PM: Greece must repay loans

Xinhua, January 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas has declared that any proposal by Greece to avoid paying back loans would be inappropriate and the nation must honor its responsibilities.

Roivas made this remark on Monday at the press conference after meeting with his visiting Croatian counterpart Zoran Milanovic in Tallinn, according to Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) today.

Roivas said Greece needed make cutbacks in spending and decrease non-essential benefits. He said he did not see any other way for Greece to overcome its economic troubles.

"The European Union has been present at all the planning and execution of Greece's reforms. Reforms which the Greek people now voted against, choosing a political force with rather populist views to lead the nation," Roivas said.

"Of course we respect the democratic freedom of the Greek people for self-determination, but the hope that they no longer have to fulfill commitments must not accompany the choices made," he said.

The far-left SYRIZA party won the recent Greek parliamentary elections, and will form the next government. The party has promised to re-negotiate Greece's 240-billion-euro bailout (about 271 billion U.S dollars). Enditem