Samaras draws parallel with Adenauer, aims for hands-on approach
After the eurozone approved the release of Greece’s latest loan tranche, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras promised to adopt a much more hands-on role in ensuring that his government meets its targets.
In an attempt to keep to his word, Samaras is due to meet with ministers on Thursday to check on the progress of the labor mobility scheme in the public sector and the execution of the budget.
The premier’s first stop will be the Administrative Reform Ministry before a visit to the General Accounting Office, where he will check on the process of paying state arrears following the release of 34.4 billion euros of bailout funding this year.
Samaras is also expected to announce that ministries will sign contracts with the Finance Ministry as pledges to keep to their budget targets for 2013.
The prime minister spoke on Wednesday night at the official launch of the offices of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, a German political foundation, in Athens. Samaras indirectly drew parallels between his role and that of Adenauer, Germany’s first post-WWII chancellor, and Gustav Stresemann, who served as chancellor and foreign minister after WWI.
“Adenauer and Stresemann were criticized in Germany for accepting the terms of foreign powers, but it was proved they accepted them to change their country’s prospects, not to mortgage its future,” said Samaras.
