Greek PM seeks breathing space on cuts

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is looking for a breather this morning as he meets Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurozone finance ministers, to discuss Greece’s ability to make the €11.5 billion of cuts in order to secure its next tranche of bailout cash. Samaras has told German newspaper Bild that his country needs ‘breathing space’ and is expected to try to persuade Juncker to give him an extra two years to make the necessary reforms, arguing that the Greek elections meant time for this was lost. Juncker may well refuse to offer leeway on this. Meanwhile German politicians continue to talk tough on the matter: Dr Michael Fuchs was on Radio 4 this morning expressing his doubts about Greece getting the extra time Samaras wants. The deputy chairman of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat party said:

‘It’s a question of what do you call a little bit more time – we gave them already much more time than it was originally planned.