The measures will be announced after Easter…

Talking today, Friday, at the cabinet meeting, PM Giorgos Papandreou dismissed the two circulating scenarios about debt restructuring and premature elections. However, even though the mid-term program for 2012-2015 was presented during the meeting, he said that details and timetables will be announced after Easter, followed by dialogue and the parliament voting.

The PM said that this is the road map of the country for the coming years and stressed that the government will faithfully follow it until 2013, the year when their term expires, thereby indirectly refuting the early elections scenarios.

Regarding the debt issue, Papandreou stressed that we can deal with the large debt burden but the problem is to solve it in depth not by restructuring the debt itself, but by restructuring the country, and that’s what we are doing with the road map.

He also expressed his confidence that "we will succeed", adding that this stems from the support provided by the government of the Greek citizens.

He made extensive reference to government work and what the government has achieved in the 18 months of its mandate, including the tidying up of public finances, which remains a goal alongside development, investment and an effective welfare state.

"To the 'we’ll do it later' state of mind we respond with decisions and changes in present time", he stressed and added that "we want an autonomous homeland that looks to the future with confidence, and this is the fight we give despite any eventualities or opposition from those who do not want to change anything.

In addition, the PM spoke about the events of violence and lawlessness that have no place in a democracy, certainly not in a period of reconstruction, and urged all political forces to take a stance clearly and without equivocation on such issues.

Referring to the results of government policy, he emphasized that it has achieved a lot on two fronts, which are restoring confidence in the country and implementingh a comprehensive reform program. He noted that we achieved the largest deficit decrease in the history of the country and the European Union.

Referring to the debt, Papandreou stressed that the reduction is not just arithmetic, "because behind the debt lie deficits and behind them practices, attitudes and corrupt policies which we are changing". "Addressing the debt and the deficit", he added, "will happen when these practices and attitudes are properly dealt with".