Brussels, 11/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Speaking at the AGM of the International Monetary Fund in Tokyo on Thursday 11 October, IMF director general Christine Lagarde said “an additional two years is necessary for the country to actually face the fiscal consolidation program that is considered” by Greece. Greece has long been calling for a breathing space. The head of the S&D party at the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda, tweeted that Lagarde should take action to get the troika of lenders to Greece (European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF) to submit “more reasonable” proposals in connection with the idea that Greece abandon uninhabited islands. At a Friends of Europe conference on Thursday, President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso said that “what Greece has been doing in terms of budgetary adjustment is of a historic nature.” Eurogroup has given Athens the deadline of endorsing the €13.5 billion austerity package by the time of the European Council on 18 October as a precondition for payment by its lenders of the next aid instalment (€31 billion plus). The Greek statistics body has announced that unemployment reached 25.1% in July. (EL/transl.fl)