Samaras hails Greek debt deal as new dawn for troubled state
GREEK Prime Minister Antonis Samaras hailed the beleaguered Eurozone country’s deal with its creditors as a new dawn for its depression-hit people.
“A very grey, very dark period for Greece officially ended yesterday and it has ended for good,” Samaras said, as Greece haggled its debt down €40bn (£32.3bn) through giving the country more time to meet targets and lowering interest rates on some loans.
“We Greeks were made for tough times, and when the going gets tough, it brings out the best in us,” Samaras added.
The deal will pave the way for a further tranche of aid, worth €43.7bn, to be extended to Greece by early 2013. But left-wing opposition Syriza called the deal “a half-baked compromise, a band-aid on the gaping wound of debt” and called for a 50 per cent write-down instead, and blaming chancellor Angela Merkel for blocking the plan, which the IMF previously argued for.