Having attended the swearing-in ceremony for his new government in Athens on Wednesday, Alexis Tsipras set off for Brussels to discuss the migration
ADVERTISEMENTHaving attended the swearing-in ceremony for his new government in Athens on Wednesday, Alexis Tsipras set off for Brussels to discuss the migration crisis with fellow European leaders.
As the Greek prime minister prepared to attend his first international meeting since his re-election on Sunday, back at home his cabinet
was upbeat about getting the cash-strapped nation back on track.
The implementation of the bailout, agreed after months of bitter negotiations, will be the government’s overwhelming task.
Greece’s top priorities in the immediate term are shoring up capital levels in the country’s banks and launching discussions with lenders on debt relief, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said.
Bank recap and debt relief top priority, says Greek finance minister http://t.co/dkFVRrrHz6pic.twitter.com/yn3l6RvXWY
— Kathimerini English (@ekathimerini) September 23, 2015
“Now is the time to plan ahead for the country’s future,” Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis told reporters.
“Our aim is to overcome difficult problems and we have created the conditions to achieve that.”
“We are a government that unites Greeks, working inside the European Union and trying to pull Greece out of the crisis,” said Panos Kammenos, Defence Minister and leader of the right-wing Independent Greeks, the junior partner in Tsipras’s coalition. “We aim to reform our country and to fight corruption.”
“We have been recognised and endorsed as a force of resistance to neo-liberalism, to the old party system and corruption,” added Labour and Social Security Minister Giorgos Katrougalos. “The time has now come for us to prove that we are a force for reform.”
Our correspondent in Athens, Stamatis Giannisis, says:
“Most members of the new cabinet are anything but new in the business of government as they have held ministerial posts in the previous Syriza-Independent Greeks coalition. But now the challenges ahead are very different as they will have to carry out the reforms Mr
Tsipras has agreed with the country’s creditors as quickly as possible.”