Samaras Cancels Prime Minister's Annual Economic Address

ATHENS – With Greece’s already-struggling economy sinking fast and his new coalition government unable to find any answers, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is ending a tradition that has had Greek leaders for years giving an annual economic speech that also included a press conference to face reporters.
For decades, Greek Prime Ministers have made the presentation in September at the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair, an important showcase for Greece around the world. The commercial exhibition event, organized by Helexpo, has been held since 1926 and Samaras, apparently not eager to take questions from reporters as his government is reportedly set to fire 45,000 workers, will end the tradition and be the first Premier not to give an assessment of the Greek economy, the newspaper Kathimerini reported.
The speech was also a chance for the Prime Minister to give a kind of State of the State review and set out his policies and has been used as a stumping ground to promote the ruling administration. Samaras’ New Democracy Conservatives, however, have an uneasy power sharing agreement with the PASOK Socialists and Democratic Left and the partners are quarreling over more austerity measures being demanded by international lenders.
On Sept. 8, Samaras, along with some members of his cabinet, will visit Thessaloniki and attend the opening of the Fair, but will not give the speech nor talk to reporters and will return to Athens immediately. His office gave no official reason why he was stopping the tradition, but Greek politicians have faced the wrath of a public furious over pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions and have been subjected to verbal and physical assaults and the Premier’s popularity ratings are falling with the news he will impose more austerity on Greeks after breaking a vow to try to renegotiate the harsh terms insisted upon by the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB.)
Sources told Kathimerini that with a critical meeting of finance ministers of the Eurozone, the 17 countries using the euro as a currency, meeting on Sept. 14 that the government prefers to talk with with them and that it would not be useful to make a presentation in Thessaloniki only six days earlier.