Describing the austerity policies that European creditors have imposed on Greece as an “abysmal failure,” progressive presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Wednesday chastised the so-called Troika—the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Commission—for inflicting severe “economic pain and suffering” on the Greek people.

“It is unacceptable that the International Monetary Fund and European policymakers have refused to work with the Greek government on a sensible plan to improve its economy and pay back its debt,” Sanders said in an exclusive statement to the Huffington Post. “At a time of grotesque wealth inequality, the pensions of the people in Greece should not be cut even further to pay back some of the largest banks and wealthiest financiers in the world.”

“At a time of grotesque wealth inequality, the pensions of the people in Greece should not be cut even further to pay back some of the largest banks and wealthiest financiers in the world.”
—Sen. Bernie Sanders

It is not the first time Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) has made such remarks. “I think it is absolutely imperative that the ECB, the Troika in Europe, work with the Greek government—not in an austerity program which punishes people who are already suffering,” he told CNBC in February. 

And in a letter sent earlier this year, Sanders called on Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen to use her influence with the ECB to push for an end to the Greek austerity policies that have caused economic recession.

“The United States cannot stand idly by while the European Central Bank undermines the new democratically elected government of Greece, induces deflation and risks financial instability,” he wrote in the letter dated February 8. “It would be a terrible mistake for the world to forget what happens when a democratically-elected government, as was the case in Germany in the 1920s, is unable to relieve the severe economic suffering of its people… We cannot allow fascism to come to power in a European country due to our unwillingness to reverse harmful austerity policies.”

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According to the Huffington Post, Sanders made a similar argument on Wednesday, singling out the IMF, the creditor over which the United States has the most direct influence.