Obama calls on Samaras to balance growth, austerity
US president says Greeks need to 'see a light at the end of the tunnel'
EnetEnglish.gr, 10:43 Friday 9 August 2013 Updated At: 10:52 Friday 9 August 2013
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and US President Barack Obama say they agreed that economic restructuring must be accompanied by growth its economy and create jobs to combat harrowing unemployment
President Barack Obama meets with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, 8 August 2013 (AP)
President Barack Obama on Thursday called on Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to balance austerity with growth as it seeks to recover from financial crisis, invoking a need for the Greek people to "see a light at the end of the tunnel".
Capping a meeting at the White House, Obama commended Samaras for pursuing bold, sweeping structural reforms to deal with the country's debt burden.
The two leaders said they agreed that at the same time Greece must find ways to grow its economy and create jobs to combat harrowing unemployment.
"We know from history that those countries that are growing, those countries where employment is high and people are increasing their productivity ... have an easier time reducing their debt burden than those countries where people are feeling hopeless," Obama said.
Samaras said Greeks have made huge sacrifices, but that those sacrifices are "not going to be in vain."
He said if and when Greece overcomes its economic challenges, it will be European success story.
Samaras was speaking after new statistics were published showing that unemployment hit a record high of 27.6% in May. For youth, the jobless rate approached 65%.
"The emphasis has to be on growth and on the creation of new jobs - especially for the youth," he said.
Obama's message to Samaras echoed the argument that austerity measures imposed by other European nations as a condition for bailouts has been too much, too fast.
While Germany and other EU nations have pressed Greece and other nations on the European periphery to focus on reducing their debt to restore market confidence and lower government borrowing costs, the Obama administration has argued those efforts must be tempered by more stimulus to boost growth and counter the high unemployment - and to increase global demand.
Before heading to the White House, Samaras met with Secretary of State John Kerry. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Kerry "recognised the difficult, but essential reforms Greece is taking to restore market confidence and fuel economic growth" and expressed U.S. solidarity with the Greek people.
Defense cooperation, counterterrorism and a proposed free trade agreement between the US and Europe were also on the agenda during the Greek leader's visit to the US. Amid major unrest in Egypt and Syria, and US concerns of an impending attack on embassies in the Arabian penisula, Obama touted the role a secure Greece can play in mitigating tensions.
"As the prime minister put it, sometimes it's a challenging neighbourhood," Obama said. "Greece can play an important stabilising and partnership role" in the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans.
Both leaders waxed optimistic about the prospects for progress in Cyprus over the island's partition.
Obama said there was a great opportunity for the decadeslong conflict to be resolved, adding that both he and Samaras were encouraged by recent statements from the Cypriot Greek and Turkish communities. And Samaras floated the possibility that Greece could align with Cyprus and Israel to meet Europe's demand for natural gas, alluding to a budding energy deal among the nations.
Samaras also met 20 leading Wall Street investors on Wednesday.
On Friday, Samaras will return to New York, where he is due to meet with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, representatives of the Greek community, the head of the American Jewish Committee David Harris and staff of the New York Times.
He will also visit Ground Zero and the nearby construction site of St Nicholas' Greek Orthodox church before returning to Athens.