ATHENS – Main opposition SYRIZA-Prgressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras on Monday accused the government of having made a decision in advance to push the metal and mining company Larco into collapse, during his meeting with the company’s employee unions. He also set out the main opposition’s ‘red lines’ regarding this issue, such as keeping Larco in operation and production, while guaranteeing jobs and labour rights.

“We believe that we are facing developments that were a foregone conclusion. The government had decided in advance to force the decline of LARCO, which is one of the most important nickel mining companies, not only in Greece but also in Europe,” Tsipras said.

The main opposition leader noted that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had promised more and better jobs and was now “leading 1,200 of LARCO’s employees not only to redundancy but also to the loss of their homes.”

On his part, the president of the employee union of Larymna, Panagiotis Politis, said that the regions of Sterea, Evia and the city of Kastoria will also decline. “We are determined to take this to the very end, we do not have any other choice, we have no place to go,” he said.