The European Commission today will ask finance ministers to endorse Greek measures to reduce the European Union’s biggest budget deficit as Prime Minister George Papandreou promised more action, including a freeze on state workers’ pay.
“Greece is in the center of a speculative game aimed at the euro,†Papandreou said in a televised speech in Athens late yesterday. “It is our national duty to stop the attempts to push our country to the edge of the cliff.â€
Papandreou pledged to raise fuel taxes in a move that will boost income immediately, and said an overhaul of the tax system, which will increase 2011 revenue, would be targeted at the wealthier to protect poorer Greeks. He said it is time for Greece, like other EU countries, to take “brave decisions†and raise the retirement age.
