Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has promised his government now will turn to trying to help the most vulnerable who have been the most affected by harsh austerity measures and not just protect the banks, but said growth is the only way for Greece to get out of a crushing economic crisis.
He told an audience at the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in Athens that the coalition of his New Democracy Conservatives and their partner, the PASOK Socialists, is “waging a battle for the full protection of the unemployed, the poor and the lower and middle classes … and to achieve a healthy bank credit that does not operate only in favor the banks but of the citizens as well.”
Samaras, speaking on The Time of the Greek Economy, outlined how he said his administration is battling the crisis that began in 2010 and will in 2014 extend a deep recession into a seventh year although he promised a recovery would begin by then.
Referring to delayed attempts to unify the country’s disparate property taxes that have resulted in an 800 percent increase in the past several years he said it would be brought together and stay at 2013 levels but with a broader tax base, alleviating 75 percent of households, according to the Athens News Agency.
As always, he was upbeat that Greece is coming back. “The worst is over and the next year will be a year of recovery for the Greek economy. For the first time this year we covered our needs and we will be left with a small amount, we will not borrow – this is the primary surplus. We have so far fended off bankruptcy, having been very close to it. However, we disproved those who expected bankruptcy. Now we are all talking of competitiveness, productivity and extroversion.”
He further said that growth means investments, exports and competitiveness. “Competitiveness means a decrease in taxation. Exports means to realize the potential that we have as a country,” Samaras stressed.
He blistered his main critic, the major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party which opposes the terms of two bailouts of $325 billion from international lenders that are propping up the country’s economy.
Samaras said SYRIZA policies would complete Greece’s ruination. “Growth means investment. Those who fight investments –like in Skouries, Halkidiki– do not want growth. The irresponsibility of those who block growth and investments will be ended.” He was referring to opponents of gold mining in northern Greece who said it would ruin the environment and tourism but which the government said would bring jobs.
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