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Samaras: "Please Give Us Air To Breathe"

Greek PM Antonis Samaras said extra time would help Greece – in its fifth year of recession – return to growth.
Mr Samaras is keen to soften the impact of budget cuts on a society where social and political discontent are rising.
“Let me be very explicit: we demand no additional money,” he told Germany’s daily Bild newspaper.
“We stand by our commitments and by fulfilling all our requirements. We have to crank up growth because that decreases the financial gaps,” he said.
“All we want is a bit of ‘air to breathe’ to get the economy running and to increase state income. More time does not automatically mean more money.”
Mr Samaras had been expected to lobby for Greece to be given two more years to get its budget deficit below 3% of GDP – currently scheduled for the end of 2014.
But he did not say how much more time he wanted. The deficit was 9.3% of GDP in 2011.
Mr Samaras said Greece, which has been bailed out twice, was making progress on the tough reforms that creditors have demanded.
“We will soon have a smaller, healthier and significantly more efficient public service,” he said.
“We are making progress, we are reducing the overall number of public servants and I have decided to hire only one person for every 10 retired civil servants.”
The bulk of the cuts are expected to come from reductions in spending on pensions, social benefits, public sector wages and health system costs.
The cuts include the axeing of up to 40,000 civil servants.
A Greek exit from the eurozone, which many politicians in Germany and elsewhere have talked about recently, would be a nightmare for Greece.
It would reduce the standard of living by a further 70%, Mr Samaras said.
(source: Bild, key103)

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