Greek PM presents first government policy statement to parliament

Greece's new Prime Minister George Papandreou on Friday night presented his government's policy statement to parliament for the first time since the Oct. 4 general elections.

Papandreou urged opposition and citizens to support the effort to lift the country out of the financial crisis and build a better future.

"We have reached a point where we either will defeat the deficit, or the deficit will defeat us," Papandreou stressed, reminding Greeks of a phrase his father, late Greek prime minister Andreas Papandreou, had said years before.

Underlining that the economy is "in a state of emergency due to the crisis in governance by the previous administration," the new premier pledged an economic stimulus package which he said is at the center of the new government's policies.

The ruling socialist party's policy is based on cutting excess public spending, boosting incomes, public investments and business start-ups with the aim of creating new jobs, fighting nepotism, bureaucracy and tax evasion, taxing Church property, and investing more on the "green economy," renewable energy sources, the health system, education and tourism, said Papandreou.

On the government's foreign policy, Papandreou, who kept for himself the foreign affairs portfolio, stressed that helping to find a solution to the Cyprus problem remains a top priority in Greece's foreign policy. He also noted that his government is committed to enhancing good relations with neighboring countries like Turkey and Macedonia.

The government policy statement will be put to the vote before the 300-member Parliament on Sunday night.

Source: Xinhua