"The country is on a difficult, yet productive course, in order to exit the crisis and make a transition to becoming a different state sharing mutual trust with the citizens based on a new productive model," government spokesman Yiorgos Petalotis stressed on Tuesday.
He pointed out that there is no question of new measures, stressing that "we are not talking about horizontal wage cuts or horizontal decisions that will affect the income of the people. On the contrary, we are doing what should have been done decades ago without missing our goals".
Referring to the memorandum signed with the troika (IMF-ECB-EU), Petalotis stated that recession was expected, adding that "by meeting the targets in the second half of 2011 the country will enter a positive course, meaning that in 2012 we will be able to talk about recovery, reduction of unemployment and more jobs; all associated with economic growth and social cohesion."
He underlined that "the government undertakes initiatives such as the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy Framework which is placed within a broader national planning that opens up the country's future prospects. That was the reason we called for a greater national consensus."
Petalotis stressed that "we have still a tough road ahead, but our effort continues," adding that "nothing is left 'for later' as it was the case with the preceding New Democracy (ND) government."
He pointed out that the government faces all difficulties and weaknesses in a decisive manner "always taking under consideration factors that are hard to predict and are beyond our control," clarifying that "the EU is trying to find its pace in the crisis we are going through, much more so our country that entered without adequate protection a foreseeable crisis which ND was hiding."
source: ANA-MPA
