GREECE’S new leftist government will not take any actions that would hurt the share values of the country’s banks and does not plan to appoint party officials at key management posts, the government’s spokesman said yesterday.

    “We will not do anything that would hurt the share value of banks,” Gabriel Sakellaridis told Skai TV. “Whatever we do in the banking system will be done in cooperation with private investors.”

    Greece’s bank bailout fund holds majority stakes in three of the country’s four biggest banks — National Bank, Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank.

    “We will not appoint party officials at the management of banks,” he said.

    Greek Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis dismissed fears that the ECB may cut vital liquidity support to Greek banks if it fails to agree with international creditors, saying the new government in Athens was confident it would reach an accord.

    “The European Central Bank and (ECB President Mario) Draghi hold control of liquidity. So there will be all the moves, whatever is needed — he has said that himself — so that the smooth course of things is not upset,” Dragasakis told Greece’s Mega TV.

    On Saturday, Finnish central bank governor Erkki Liikanen, a member of the ECB’s policymaking Governing Council, said the liquidity support could dry up if Greece persists with its plan of pulling the plug on its international bailout deal.

    Dragasakis also said the change of management announced earlier Sunday at Greek lender Eurobank, in which Greece’s bank bailout fund holds a 35 percent stake, had taken place at the instigation of the bank itself.(SD-Agencies)