Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency in an interview released on Sunday, main opposition New Democracy Vice President Adonis Georgiadis said he would personally like to see pension cuts avoided.
"As ND we have voted against it, we have denounced it and have told all the international fora where we are heard that it should not go into effect," he said.
Questioned about the criticism levelled against ND's own proposals for the pension system, Georgiadis noted that this was the system currently used in most developed countries in the world.
"What [ND leader] Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed at the Thessaloniki International Fair is naturally not a 'Pinochet' system, it is the system implemented in the Federal Republic of Germany by the social democrat chancellor Gerhard Schroeder," he pointed out.
Elaborating on the economic programme that Mitsotakis presented at the 83rd TIF, Georgiadis said that the "growth shock" that he proposed would be achieved by reducing taxes and contributions, a bold privatisations programme and stamping out bureaucracy. This would give a signal to the markets and lead to the immediate flow of foreign investments into Greece, he said.
He also expressed support for Mitsotakis' announcement that ND's election tickets would include candidates from the centre left, noting that "there is no rule saying that capable people come only from the right, nor only from the left."
Commenting on the Prespes Agreement between Athens and Skopje, meanwhile, he described this as "nationally damaging" and said: "When elections are held and we succeed in blocking this agreement, you will see the result of our own negotiation that will surely be much better. So long as we are in time."
The full interview in Greek is available of the ANA Greek-language website and service.