Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras started a European charm offensive on Wednesday with an appeal to Germans for more time to meet targets for deficit cuts, but may struggle to make his case in meetings this week with EU leaders. "All we want is a bit of 'air to breathe' to get the economy running and to increase state income. More time does not automatically mean more money," Samaras told Germany's mass-market Bild newspaper, which often mocks Greece's dire finances.
"Let me be very explicit: we demand no additional money. We stand by our commitments and by fulfilling all our requirements. We have to crank up growth because that decreases the financial gaps," Samaras added in the interview, which ran hours before he begins talks in Athens with euro zone chief Jean-Claude Juncker. Appointed in June after two tumultuous parliamentary elections, Samaras hopes to persuade Luxembourg premier Juncker that the debt-laden Greek nation has the will to ram through unpopular reforms and deserves more time to do it, without being cut off from European rescue loans. With cash coffers running empty and renewed talk of a Greek euro zone exit without more aid, Samaras is under pressure to convince European leaders that Greece has finally mustered the political courage to make good on commitments in a bailout.
---- Merkel says no decisions expected at Friday talks
Juncker, the most influential European policymaker to visit Athens since the conservative-led government took power on June 20, is expected to tell Samaras bluntly that Greece must carry out promised cuts and that little room for leeway exists. In response to Samaras's comments to Bild, the Dutch finance minister gave a taste of the scepticism among the euro zone's less-indebted northern states towards Greece: "If it concerns delaying reforms and budget cuts, then it is not a good idea," Jan Kees de Jager told reporters.
Such messages are likely to be hammered home again to the Greek leader when he travels to Berlin on Friday to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and to Paris a day later for talks with French President Francois Hollande. Merkel has already said s he and Samaras will not make any decisions during their talks, adding she would wait for a report from lenders on Greece's progress in meeting targets. That report is not expected until late September.
Shortly after being elected, Samaras's government promised he would tour Europe to seek two more years to hit targets under Greece's 130-billion euro bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. But faced with a lack of European appetite for cutting Greece more slack, the government has since toned down its rhetoric on the issue and now expects merely to broach the idea during talks this week rather than formally requesting it.
"We must first re-establish our relationship with European partners that has been seriously damaged," said a Greek government official, who declined to be identified. Key to restoring credibility will be Greece's attempt to push through 11.5 billion euros of cuts over the next two years as demanded under the bailout - which Samaras's administration has yet to fully piece together after weeks of wrangling.