Samaras Negotiates for Discussion on Austerity Measures

Antonis Samaras intends to bring some aspects of austerity measures within an EU-IMF programme for discussion, he said in a letter to the Eurogroup.

The Nea Demokratia leader has long argued that austerity measures went too far and too fast and that Greece is losing its sovereignty along with the pride of the Greek people.

He has also refused to sign a bailout commitment for the October 26th agreement with the EU-IMF, and instead sent a letter negotiating for a new discussion on the austerity measures demanded by the EU.

The text of his letter is below:

"As stated in the meeting of the three Party Leaders under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic C. Papoulias: “it has been agreed upon that the task of the new Government will be to materialize the decisions taken at the European Council of October 26th 2011 and to implement the economic policies linked to those decisions”.

The new Prime Minister has already pledged to fulfill this task.

Nea Demokratia is committed to support the new Prime Minister.

Nea Demokratia is strongly committed to the success of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms, rebuilding market confidence and fostering economic growth.

Nea Demokratia fully supports the targets of fiscal adjustment, regarding all issues on eliminating the deficit and reversing the debt dynamics; it also supports “tools” already implemented (albeit poorly); namely, public expenditure cutting, fighting tax evasion, structural reforms, privatization programs and capitalizing on idle real estate public property.

On the evidence of the budget execution so far, we believe that certain policies have to be modified, so as to guarantee the Program’s success. This is more so, since according to the latest European Economic forecasts, Greece in 2012 will be the only European country with 5 consecutive years in recession!

We intend to bring these issues to discussion, along with viable policy alternatives, strictly within the framework outlined by the Program. We give great emphasis to allowing for prompt recovery, so that public revenues generated will help us achieve the targets set.

We also attribute special emphasis to the implementation procedures which have to be streamlined and upgraded.

The commitment of the Greek people and of Nea Demokratia to the European Union and the Euro is strong and irrevocable.

Nea Demokratia believes that Greece can get out of the crisis and safeguard its social cohesion.

We are committed to make that happen."

Sincerely,
Antonis C. Samaras
President of Nea Demokratia