New cabinet meeting on Sunday to discuss the issues of redundancy and the budget

The government has been walking on the razor’s edge during the last few hours, racing against time and making desperate efforts to find solutions to pressing issues such as managing to place thousands of civil servants on reserve.

The issue of redundancy was not tabled in today’s cabinet meeting since the appropriate preparations are not finished. In order to avoid a negative impression about the intentions and speed of the government, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos announced that he willb submit the budget draft for 2012 in Parliament on Monday, and thus a cabinet meeting was scheduled for Sunday in order to discuss these issues.

In today’s meeting, Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou attempted to clamp down on talk of potential bankruptcy, making it clear that any developments will take place within the boundaries of the July 21st agreement.

“Since there are several scenarios in the international and domestic media, I want to emphasize once again that the July agreement only sets the framework within which we move”, the PM stated, giving credit to PASOK parliament members in relation to their bold attitude during their latest property tax vote “a difficult yet necessary decision, which secures the national interest”, he said.

The PM was very strict with those unwilling to help with the nation’s effort, stating that “there is no reason why Greek businessmen should move their money out of the country instead of investing it in Greece, while at the same time asking us to invest in Greece. They have to be a good example, and we are all ready to follow”.