PM Samaras: New Greece needs stability to become competitive and grow
ANA-MPA -- Greece will return to its pre-crisis state in seven years, with an increase in its GDP, the opening of 770,000 new jobs, and prosperity spread among all citizens, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Tuesday, during his key campaign speech at the Benaki Museum Annexe in Athens.
“Until 2020, Greece will have recovered the prosperity it had before the crisis,” Samaras said, and stressed that conditions would gradually improve for the average citizen.
Samaras said that growth would begin in 2014, reaching 2.9% in 2015 and 3.7% in 2016, citing data from international organization and research centres.
Tourism was at the forefront of development, he noted, as was energy and research and technology, that would contribute the most to the creation of jobs, as would investments by foreign companies in Greece.
"We reduced the debt and controlled interest rates without an intervening bankruptcy, with interest rates to be reduced further in the autumn. Greece has restored its credibility abroad," Samaras said, referring to Greece's renewed access to markets, adding that now "we are initiating a new Greece, of competitiveness, not of statism."
The main priorities of the plan he presented included the following: A reduction in unemployment, which will bring a rise in wages; a reduction in taxation in a way that would not affect the primary surplus adversely; a reduction in farming cost, to improve competitive ability; liquidity in business, with banks finding their own funding abroad; and promotion of reforms, including tax evasion and bureaucracy and the revision of the constitution to improve stability in the electoral system and limit the prime minister’s terms in office.
In his address, Samaras attacked main opposition SYRIZA, charging them with using the prospect of a new Greece as a campaign motto alone. “These are all the people who want instability…who for the past two years have voted down any reform attempt, every single article, who have no plan and who want to turn us back,” the premier said.
“The country is taking off. Greeks are being called to respond to the dilemma, next Sunday, of going ahead to growth or returning to the crisis,” Samaras said, referring to the double elections on May 25, for the second round of local government elections and Europarliament elections.
The premier included a review of the two years of his government and said it was the first time a modern and comprehensive national growth plan was being adopted, making special reference to energy and water resources.
The audience included the Parliament president, ministers of National Defence, Justice, Public Order, Shipping and Labour, and deputies and Eurodeputies. Tuesday's address counts as New Democracy party's right to air time allocated to party leaders for a televised speech.
