"We kept Greece at the heart of Europe"

At the PASOK Parliamentary Group, the prime minister launched a harsh attack against ND and personally against its president, Antonis Samaras. Specifically, after underlining that one of the greatest achievements of the intensive negotiations was the fact that "we kept Greece at the heart of the EU", Papandreou accused Samaras of petty politics, noting that the latter even seeks to become prime minister of a "Greece of the drachma".
 
Addressing the issue of consent, he denounced the attitude of the opposition, accusing them of nihilistic criticism "in the fire that they started".
 
He also stressed that "together we created the prospect of building a strong structure for the new generation of our country". Furthermore, he noted that the government showed seriousness and responsibility, following a different model of political operation, away from petty perceptions. "We will continue in the same way", said the PM.
 
He praised the attitude of his MPs, who ignored the threats and honored their oath to support the country, turning their back on the disparate forces trying to create chaos.
 
He added that the government succeeded in meeting the borrowing needs for the coming years through the decisions of the summit in Brussels, something that was not obvious at the start of the negotiations. And he sent a message to promote the reforms by saying "we never refrained from dealing face to face with trade unions."
 
The PM appealed to taxi owners to engage in dialogue with the government, making it clear however that the deregulation of the profession will proceed.
 

Papandreou stressed that the deregulation of all professions will be carried out by means of rules and dialogue. Especially as concerns taxi owners, he said the government will listen to any proposal within a dialogue of short duration that will aim to upgrade the services in this sector.
 
He also called upon taxi owners to realise the consequences of their protests on other sectors, while he accused members of the opposition of fomenting these protests, counting on disaster.