Greek Prime-minister calls for Greek people unity in the battle to bail out the country's economy reassuring them that their sacrifices will bear fruit and the country's picture will change in 3 years. Mr. Papandreou said , in an interview with daily "Ta Nea", priority is placed in restoring the country's credibility lost in the criminal selections of the previous government and underlined his recent contacts abroad and efforts to crack speculative practices. He also stressed that the government will meet the challenge to uproot bad practices of the past that led the country in the present situation, adding that he would no longer put up with blatant favouritism , privileges of the few, disregard of society, provocative rise to wealth, illicit profiteering and tax evasion.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Thursday for a clampdown on the type of speculative trading that exacerbated Greece's debt crisis and undermined the euro in recent weeks.

 

Employment Minister Andreas Loverdos ruled out Wednesday the possibility of trimming the 14th salary in the private sector. Addressing the House, Loverdos dismissed such a measure as detrimental to economy. Sounding on the same wavelength, the SEV (Hellenic Federation of Enterprises) head also blasted such a possibility. Dimitris Daskalopoulos lashed out at the employees going out on strikes and suggested permanent working status in the public sector be abolished. His last comments sparked fierce reaction by the parties of the left.

A survey conducted by the National Statistics Service on living conditions and income earned in 2008 indicates that 20% of Greece's population are facing poverty. In numbers it is translated to 832.975 households or 2.186.869 people whose income is not over the poverty line, specifically their annual income is not over €6.480 per person and €13.608 for households comprised of two adults and two dependant children.