[sarasaraseda]

ABC News | May 28, 2012 08:33:19

Greek leaders have condemned International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde for her comments about
Greeks not paying taxes.

In an interview published on Friday, Ms Lagarde told Britain's Guardian newspaper that Greeks must "help themselves
collectively" by all paying taxes. She told the newspaper she was more concerned about Africans in poverty than Greeks
in the economic crisis.



The reaction in Greece has been one of outrage. The head of Greece's Pasok party, Evangeos Venizelos, said she
had insulted the Greek people.

The head of the far left Syriza party in Greece, Alexis Tsipras, seized on her comments to assert his stance as a
defender against economic cuts. "The last thing we seek in Greece is her sympathy. Greek workers pay their taxes,
which are unbearable," he said.

In Ms Lagarde's native France a government spokeswoman described her comments as "rather simplistic and
stereotypical".

Ms Lagarde received more than 10,000 messages, many of them obscene, on her Facebook page, where posts
typically draw a couple of hundred comments.

Later, she issued a Facebook message saying she was sympathetic to the Greek people and the challenges they
are facing.