09 February, 2011
 "The euro will survive and Greece will be among the survivors," visiting Eurogroup chairman and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker stressed on Tuesday, February 8, after talks with Prime Minister George Papandreou in Athens. He also stressed that the repayment period for the Greek debt must be extended and expressed Europe’s full support to the efforts made by Greece, saying characteristically, that "everybody in Europe admires Greece except from a few idiots."
On his part, Papandreou told the same news conference that eurozone leaders should take decisions in March, without delay. "We are on the right path but - and that was clear from the beginning - Europe has to take the necessary decisions as there have been shortcomings in the eurozone’s economic governance," he said.
The Eurogroup chairman also met yesterday with Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, with talks focusing on issues that will preoccupy the next Eurogroup and Ecofin councils, such as the resources of the European Monetary Stability Fund, the widening of its functioning and the Franco-German proposal for a European "competitiveness pact."
Jean-Claude Juncker also met with main opposition New Democracy (ND) party leader Antonis Samaras, with whom he discussed the world economic crisis and its repercussions for Greece. Samaras said, following the meeting that he agreed with the Eurogroup chairman on the need to issue a Eurobond, as well as extending the repayment period for Greece’s EU/IMF loan, accompanied by a decrease in the interest rates. Source: GREEK NEWS AGENDA issued by the Secretariat Genera
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