Brussels, 24/08/2012 (Agence Europe) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was in Berlin on Friday 24 August pleading the cause of his country before German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and, on Saturday, he will be received in Paris by French President François Hollande. Samaras assured he is determined to keep his commitments under the 2nd financial bailout for Greece, while telling Europeans he needs a “little air to breathe” - but not more money - to kick-start the Greek economy which has been in recession for five years now (estimated reduction of 7% of GDP in 2012). As he explained to Le Monde, this means the forthcoming adoption of €11.7 billion in savings over two years, and the intensification of privatisations (aimed at reaching €30 billion by 2016 with the inclusion of the privatisation of the railway and of power plants). In order to conduct these privatisations successfully, he has called on political leaders, of whom there are many in Germany, to stop contemplating Greece's exit from the eurozone, while FT Deutschland affirms that the German authorities have set in place a unit to study the contagious effect such a possibility might have.
The previous day, France and Germany had taken a firm stance on Greece, which is under pressure to comply with its commitments, while hoping that the country will remain in the eurozone. Merkel said she trusted everyone would abide by their commitments. In her view, a final decision relating to a new rescue aid package of over €30 billion will not come about before the presentation - end September at best - of the final “troika” report (European Commission, ECB, IMF), which will be returning to Athens early September. “We want Greece to be in the eurozone. (…) It is up to the Greeks to make the efforts that are essential to allow us to achieve that objective”, François Holland said. (MB/transl.jl)