New Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras presents his vision to a crisis weary Greece on Friday, nearly a month after winning a tense vote and with the country’s euro zone place still in danger.
In giving his speech to parliament, the conservative Samaras, 61, formally begins what will certainly be a harrowing mandate with Greece mired in a fifth year of recession despite two international bailouts and a raft of reforms.
Samaras is widely expected to announce an acceleration of Greece’s privatisation drive, to satisfy Brussels and the IMF, while simultaneously promising Greeks that more layoffs and pay cuts are out of the question.
When privatisations of ports, airports, former Olympic sites and utilities were first launched in 2010, hopes were that they would raise 50 billion euros ($63 billion), but now the government projects just 15 billion euros ($18.5 billion) by 2015.