Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-05-17

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] PM calls for "national understanding" at Economist Con'f 

[01] PM calls for "national understanding" at Economist Con'f

Addressing an Economist conference titled "In the aftermath of the global economic crisis: what next" that began on Tuesday at a sea-side resort east of Athens, Papandreou said that the "primary necessity is to have a new nation-wide understanding within our country."

"Experiences in recent years, the tough reality and truth on our conditions, do not allow for embellishing the situation or offering magic recipes. They all call for a serious and responsible stance, persistence and commitment on the part of us all. And this must be communicated and expressed by all, society, business people, social partners and political party leaders alike. This is a national necessity for us: we have to change Greece. And indeed show that everyone everywhere understand this," the premier told his audience.

"In order to restore sustainable economic growth, fiscal consolidation remains our number one priority. That is why we have just tabled an ambitious mid-term fiscal adjustment program for 2012-2015, which includes extensive privatisations, economies of scale in the public sector, minimizing waste in public spending, and restructuring our production model," Papandreou noted, adding:

"We will undertake any additional policy measures necessary to ensure that we meet the original fiscal targets we set in 2011. What is needed to be done from here on? (1) a robust 4 year program, our program, which guarantees that we are moving. Implementing policies and all the necessary major changes in our society. It is technically called âa midterm programâ, yet it is nothing less than a small revolution. One of restructuring our institutions, our society, our economy. One that moves from austerity to structural changes, programs to fight unemployment, to make insure competitiveness and growth. Certainly green and quality growth. (2) A clear commitment for the necessary support of this program from our institutional partners. (3) Good management of our debt. More specifically: We are finalizing our Medium Term Fiscal Strategy for the period 2012-2015. This is the first time Greece undertakes such a project which will bring our deficit below 3% in 2014 and at around 1 percentage of GDP in 2015.

"This will allow us to create a primary surplus above 5% from 2014 onwards which will reduce the debt to GDP ratio and make the Greek debt sustainable. Our medium term fiscal strategy will be fully quantified and all the necessary measures will be completely specified."

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