Athens, 5 March 2010

Journalist: Your government has been stressing that Greece is not asking for a single cent from German taxpayers, but that it seeks political support. What specific form will it have?

Mr. Droutsas: I want to stress once again. Greece is going through a tough period; an economic crisis.  I think that Greece, the Greek government, the new Greek government under Prime Minister George Papandreou, have proven from the outset that we are addressing this crisis in a very serious and systematic manner . We drew up a programme of measures, a programme to stabilise the economy and we submitted it to the EU institutions. The day before yesterday, we took tougher measures. We believe that Greece did its share, showing that it is reliable. and we believe that it is now Europe’s turn, Europe is the one who should take the necessary steps in order to express full support, not only towards Greece, but also eurozone as a whole. Allow me to point out that the Greek government has never asked for direct financial support. What we are asking is a sincere and clear expression of solidarity vis-a-vis Greece. The EU should think about the mechanisms and the specific measures that it could implement in order to support countries such as Greece, but also other EU countries which might face a similar crisis in future. 

Journalist: You say that you are hoping for political and not financial support. How can just words be enough? Financial markets are betting on a Greek default.

Mr. Droutsas: This is the major challenge we are faced with. Greece needs to pay large interest payments in order to be able to borrow. Allow me to give you a concrete example. Greece has to pay €750 million more than Germany in interest payments on a government bond worth about €5 billion...

Journalist: ...the reason is that its credit rating has been downgraded...

Mr. Droutsas: Precisely, yes. And our EU partners should look for the right way to support our reliability.

Journalist: So I assume this is why you are in favour of a Eurobond, so that national government bonds can be replaced by one form of bonds in the eurozone?

Mr. Droutsas: This is one of many ideas discussed in EU circles lately. This is something that one could think about. But there are other ideas too. But as I said, it is time for Europe to take up its own responsibilities. 

Journalist: Deutsche Bank Governor, Mr. Josef Ackermann, visited Athens a week ago. What did he promise your country?

Mr. Droutsas: It was a useful discussion within the framework of the Greek government’s preparation with regard to the package of measures, but it was a general discussion on the international economic crisis...

Journalist:...did he promise financial support?

Mr. Droutsas: As I said, it was a useful discussion within the framework of this preparation, and ways to address the global financial crisis were discussed.

Journalist: The EU asked you to cut your government deficit by 4%, i.e. from 12.7% to 8.7%. What happens if you don’t succeed?

Mr. Droutsas: I repeat that this is our goal. It is a major challenge for us. It is a goal to which we have been committed.

Journalist: But citizens are already protesting, there are street demonstrations..

Mr. Droutsas: The situation is difficult, this is clear. But we hope that, through dialogue with our fellow citizens, we will be able to address the situation. Greek citizens know that we are in a difficult situation and we have difficult times ahead of us, and it is reasonable that there is discontent. But we hope that we can tackle this situation by discussing with our fellow citizens and making it clear that these measures are necessary. This is the first step on our course to build the future Greece.

Journalist: What is your reaction to proposals in Germany about Greece selling state property, for instance, Greek islands, in order to pay off its debt?

Mr. Droutsas: I think that Greece, the Greek government, the Greek people have taken these measures very seriously....

Journalist: ...but you could sell state property, perhaps not the islands, but other property belonging to the Greek state...

Mr. Droutsas: Allow me to stress once again that serious proposals are of course taken into account and rest assured that the Greek government is doing that, but measures, proposals of that ilk – i.e. “sell the islands” or even “sell the Acropolis" – are definitely not serious. As I already told you, we are focusing on this very serious package of measures. Our government is truly trying to restore Greece’s credibility once again. This is what we are concentrating on and such is the support that Greece needs from its European partners and important countries such as Germany, in particular.