BRUSSELS (MNI) – The agreement reached by EU leaders at their
summit here makes economic growth a principal priority and paves the way
for debt reduction in the future, Greece’s President Karolos Papoulias
said Friday.
At a press conference after the end of the EU summit here,
Papoulias reiterated that there must be modifications to some aspects of
the Greek fiscal program in order to make it more effective and fairer
to society.
He said that he had told his EU counterparts there is an urgent
need to guarantee Greek deposits, because the troubled country has
serious liquidity problems. He also said that the EU should revisit its
approach to the distribution of EU funds to member countries in order
“to better reflect the real economic data of each country.”
Papoulias headed the Greek delegation to the summit, because the
newly-elected Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is on bed rest recovering
from emergency eye surgery.
The Greek president said he told EU leaders that they should give
Greece hope for growth in order to counter the deep recession gripping
the country.
–Brussels Bureau; a_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com
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