George Papandreou Says His Country Was a “Weak Link” (NBG)

The Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou, was just interviewed on Fox Business Network by Nicole Petallides, where he talked about the debt crisis, measures the country is taking to reassure investors, paying back loans, and preventing such a crisis from happening in the future. In regard to the response to his country’s debt crisis, the Prime Minister said, “Let me thank President Obama and the people of the US for the support we have had in this difficult crisis. We were a weak link but this was an international crisis. President Obama has been very supportive in the idea that we do need to see how this international financial system works. We have high hopes that important decision will be made to create a level playing field, a transparent financial system which will be to the benefit of the world economy.” When questioned about doubts that his country will pay back the EU, Mr. Papandreou said, “As prime minister of this country that is my main purpose only to pay back those loans but to be a competitive economy. And Greece has great potential. We have created this package to reassure investors that we will not default. We are turning the corner in this crisis and moving. People see that this EUI package gives an assurance that Greece is on a good track and it’s a good bet to invest in Greece.” He added, “We will absolutely honor our signature. We are a new government. We have come in with a message of change. We have to make the changes. In the last 6 months we have cut down out deficit by 40%. We have increased taxes, cracked down on tax evasion, cut down expenditure and we have had to take some very harsh measures cutting wages in the public sector by 20%. This shows our determination to be on track.” Mr. Papandreou closed by talking about the morale of the people in Greece, saying, “The wide majority of the people, even though these measures are difficult, they say ‘ok this is also an opportunity to change our country. We are paying for it, we don’t like it, but we have to do it, its for Greece, its for our country its for our families its for our future but at the same time we also want to make Greece a more transparent country a more open to business brining in investment and we are already doing that.” Shares of the National Bank of Greece SA are higher on the session by 2.90%, currently trading at $2.48. The stock is down heavily over the past six month, falling from nearly $6.00.