Papandreou: Greece to Fight Back to Growth, Prosperity

“I promise you we Greeks will soon fight our way back to growth and prosperity,” Greece Prime Minister George Papandreou told an audience of German business leaders in Berlin. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has vowed to "guarantee that Greece will live up to all its commitments," as he seeks to keep his debt-ridden country afloat.

"I promise you we Greeks will soon fight our way back to growth and prosperity," he told an audience of German business leaders in Berlin before a critical meeting with the country's Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Papandreou was speaking as Greece braced for strikes in the face of government efforts to raise taxes and slash spending to try to close its huge budget deficit.

Meanwhile, a property tax measure passed the Greek parliament in Athens late in the day, as more than 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside in Syntagma Square and police manned barricades in case of trouble.

The tax is the latest in a series of austerity measures imposed by the Greek government in an effort to limit the country's huge debt.

Speaking alongside Papandreou, Merkel said she was opposed to more stimulus packages because creating more debt was not the way to create growth -- but that Germany would support Greece on its way out of its debt crisis.

She also pointed out that Germany profited from the euro, with some 60% of its exports going to European Union countries and that the nation's future depends on that of Europe.

However, solidarity and reform have to go together, the German leader said, and Germany would help Greece only if it did its part.

Merkel is hoping to win support from the public and members of her own governing coalition before a key vote in Germany's parliament Thursday on boosting the European Union rescue fund used to bail out Greece. If the measure passes thanks to the opposition rather than her own government, Merkel stands to lose face in Germany and will be a weaker figure on the European stage.

In a joint media conference held later Tuesday in Berlin, Merkel recognized the pain being felt by many people in Greece.

"I'm conscious of the fact that a lot of change is being imposed upon the people in Greece at the moment. That to a degree people who have absolutely nothing to do with the current debt crisis that has arisen, have to save and do without a lot at the moment," she said.

Papandreou said Europe was in uncharted waters but that Greece was resolved to do whatever was necessary to restore financial security.

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