Associated Press/Seattle Times
April 15, 2011
Greece's painful austerity measures are just the start of a long list of structural reforms to get the debt-ridden country's economy back on its feet, the prime minister said Friday.
While presenting a new package of reforms worth euro23 billion ($33 billion) through 2015, George Papandreou said the measures were a "patriotic duty" that would bring about "radical change" in all sectors of the state.
The measures themselves will be unveiled after Easter, he said in opening remarks at a Cabinet meeting which were televised live.
Papandreou insisted that Greece does not intend to restructure its debt, a possibility markets are increasingly fearing. The country's woes, he said, "will be addressed in depth. Not by restructuring the debt but when we restructure the country."
Greece was saved from default last year with a euro110 billion package of bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund and EU. In return, it imposed strict austerity measures last year, including public sector salary and pension cuts, and broad tax hikes.
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