During his speech at the conference of the Greek newspaper “Kathimerini” and the “International New York Times” on the subject of “Democracy under pressure”, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras stressed the dangers of both populism and extremism.

Mr. Samaras, naming no names but indirectly referring to SYRIZA stated that: “Populism and extremism failed to rise over the years of the crisis. Now that we are on our way out of the crisis, they will retreat. I do not know many societies that could withstand such radical reforms in such a short time”, Mr. Samaras continued, pointing out that “Despite the just complaints, the Greek people did not embrace extremism and populism. There will be no Weimar Republic in Greece. Greece made a comeback but our efforts must continue. Reformed, the enemies are preparing their last attack, they are doing everything they can, with fake promises and the promise of quick fixes, but the more they try to convince us of their reliability, the more they get exposed. What we have accomplished so far can not be sacrificed on the altar of populism and extremism. ”

Furthermore the Greek Prime Minister made a brief account of the last two years: “Two years ago Greece was collapsing, a long period of recession was beginning, the markets were closed, unemployment was sky high, while public order was endangered. Today, we have achieved a primary surplus, and for the rest of 2014, we shall cover our obligations during 2015, as well as achieving the largest fiscal adjustment ever. At the same time we made a huge step in improving the competitiveness position of the country according to the World Bank of 111 locations”.
Finally, Mr. Samaras mentioned the reforms in response to extremism and populism: “Pressure is not a problem for democracy, the problem is when correction mechanisms fail “.