Antonis Samaras: Today is a new day for the land.

Greece's position in Europe will not be put in doubt.

Antonis Samaras

position doubt europe

There is a mass of immigrants, a million of them without work. We will stop this invasion.

Antonis Samaras

immigrants invasion mass

I am fully aware of the critical moments we face as a country.

Antonis Samaras

critical-moments faces country

During the socialist period, the government became too big. That created a crowding-out effect in the private economy, and it gave everybody the need to pay more taxes in order to finance this big government. We are against big government. We want a smaller and more efficient government.

Antonis Samaras

government order needs

Our first goal is to stop the recession and start with recovery.

Antonis Samaras

recovery goal firsts

The best way for someone to govern is to set an example.

Antonis Samaras

best-way example way

There are certainly delays in this year's agreed program, and we must quickly catch up. Let's not kid ourselves, there is still big waste in the public sector, and it must stop.

Antonis Samaras

delay kids years

Other countries have access to the markets, whereas Greece does not. Therefore, we have to get liquidity through the ECB.

Antonis Samaras

greece doe country

We shed blood to take the word `Grexit' away from the mouth of foreigners, and Syriza is bringing this word back to their mouths.

Antonis Samaras

foreigners mouths blood

I cannot allow a third party to decide on my country's future.

Antonis Samaras

third-parties party country

It was a culture that business is something bad - it was a leftist-oriented psychology. We have to break this. We are pro-business.

Antonis Samaras

psychology break culture

There are many people abroad who want to help, who want to invest. We will give them the red-carpet treatment. We want them to realize that this is a land of opportunity. It always has been so, but we never allowed foreign investment to come into this country.

Antonis Samaras

land opportunity country

Illegal immigrants are already a very big problem for us. We are already taking big steps to disallow illegal immigrants from coming in.

Antonis Samaras

bigs problem steps

We are a pivotal part of the European Union. Any destabilization of Greece would totally rock the boat.

Antonis Samaras

boat unions rocks

There are going to be a lot of problems with social cohesion. We are already cutting down everything to the bone. Unless there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Antonis Samaras

cutting tunnels light

Very serious mistakes were made by previous governments, and Greece was ready to be abandoned by its partners and to leave the eurozone, which would have created total catastrophe.

Antonis Samaras

government serious mistake

I have always believed that this idea of having a nation go through this very painful five or six years of continuous recession with high unemployment would be detrimental for the economy and the society.

Antonis Samaras

six years ideas

We have decreased the salaries of everybody who partakes in politics, from the president to the prime minister to the MPs [members of Parliament]. We have cut expenditures that have to do with parliament. Everybody knows we are serious.

Antonis Samaras

mps cutting president

We believe that what they call "Grexit" [a Greek exit from the eurozone] is not an option for us.

Antonis Samaras

exit greek believe

I do not want Greece to become the negative paradigm for the others - i.e. "make sure you follow exactly what we tell you, otherwise you will be like Greece."

Antonis Samaras

paradigm want negative