Italy supports Greece, Letta says after meeting Samaras in Athens

Samaras referred to the potential for cooperation with Italy, particularly emphasising the importance of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and its selection to carry natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, which he said was a “massive success” for both countries.
Samaras stressed

that the construction of the pipeline put Greece on the global energy map and showed that the two countries were able to achieve great things together. Letta said the pipeline was “good news” for both countries and would have a positive impact for the next 20 years, bring jobs and lower prices.
During their meeting, which was carried out in a very good climate, Samaras and Letta discussed the economic crisis in Europe, the Greek European Union presidency in the first half of 2014 and the TAP pipeline.
The Greek prime minister started off the meeting by expressing his support for the tragic tour bus accident in Campania and the families of the victims.
With regard to economic affairs, Samaras underlined the need for policies that combine reforms to eliminate deficits with action for growth and stressed that recession only made the problems worse. While Greece was making steady progress on the path of fiscal adjustment and reforms, “we cannot achieve growth when Europe is sliding into a recession,” he explained.
The Greek premier underlined that growth was the primary goal for Greece and the countries of the European south struggling in the grip of the debt crisis.
The problems caused by illegal migration also figured prominently in the two premiers’ discussion, with talks focusing on a joint approach to the problem by Mediterranean countries, including Malta, Cyprus and Spain.
Another key issue was the exploitation of wealth-generating maritime resources of Greece and Italy.
According to Samaras, “2014 will be landmark year for the future of Europe,” during which Greece and Italy will successively take over the rotating EU presidency and need to establish common priorities. The Italian prime minister announced that they will work together and invited Samaras to visit Rome next October.
The fact that Greece was exiting the crisis was major news for Europe and Italy, Letta emphasised, stressing that his country will be at Greece’s side. He also pointed out that Greece must meet the commitments and comply with agreements it has made, noting that the sacrifices of the Greek people “were not an end in themselves” but a tool for achieving growth, which was the ultimate goal.
Replying to questions, however, Letta was critical of choices made by Europe and the EU-IMF troika in order to tackle the crisis in Greece and referred to mistakes in the time-frames and tools employed. He suggested that the nature of the crisis would have been substantially different if Europe’s initial stance had been different and so many jobs were not lost.
On this issue, Samaras underlined that Greece’s foremost goal at present was to achieve a primary surplus so that the country was no longer dependent on loans.
“Greece has the largest structural surplus and we could achieve extremely high rates of growth if we did not need to be constantly borrowing,” he pointed out.
Their meeting lasted an hour and a quarter and was followed by a working dinner, which was attended by Government Vice-President and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos. The foreign minister will later have a meeting with Letta in private.

source: ΑΜΝΑ