“We are waging a battle to distance the risk of the country’s exit from the euro… The battle is being waged to strengthen the country’s negotiating position, in order to deliver what we, the three political leaders supporting the government, have promised: growth,” Samaras added, ANA reports, after briefing Greek President Karolos Papoulias on his recent meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

The Premier is meeting today with coalition partners Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis to brief them on his recent meetings in Berlin and Paris as well as the austerity package that media reports have suggested is close to becoming final. The Premier further said that “the drachma lobby has lost a decisive round”, adding that “we still have a lot of work ahead of us”. According to media reports, upon his arrival at the Presidential Mansion, Samaras told Papoulias that “the ship has started to turn, but this doesn’t mean we have less work to do, that’s why we must and we are running.”

In a meeting yesterday between Finance minister Yannis Stournaras, Citizen Protection minister Nikos Dendias, Defense minister Panos Panagiotopoulos and the heads of the three branches of the armed forces, as well as officers from the police and fire departments, cuts in uniform payrolls were discussed with ministers continuing to react to the measure. According to protothema.gr, the original intention of the government was to replace this year΄s special payroll cuts (EUR 205 million) with equivalent horizontal cuts in expenses and to implement the measure in 2013 (saving EUR 600 million annually). Officials are also discussing the weighted average reduction of 12-14% in payroll costs for doctors, teachers, diplomats, civil servants, police, armed forces, but propose that it should be scaled to protect sectors that have already been severely affected, and are expressing strong opposition. The largest cut in this proposal, about 20%, will come to judges and diplomats, as they are the group with the highest incomes, followed by teachers and priests by around 10%, doctors by 8% and uniformed officers by 5%.

Greece’s membership of the eurozone is «irreversible» European Council president Herman Van Rompuy said yestreday during a visit to Spain to discuss the eurozone crisis. “Let there be no doubt the euro is irreversible and Greece’s presence in the euro as well,” Van Rompuy told a joint news conference in Madrid with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. “It is only by adopting strong measures by each individual member state and Rajoy said a Greek exit would be a setback for the region. “If Greece leaves or anyone leaves the eurozone it would be a collective failure of Europe,” he said, AFP reports.

Barroso added: “I want, once again, to pay tribute to the courage and exceptional resilience of the Greek people. A lot of sacrifices are being demanded from them to redress their economy and move into a prosperous future.

The second economic adjustment programme agreed between Greece and the Eurogroup is the foundation to achieve this goal. We stand ready to continue to support Greece in its endeavour…”

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy ahead the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico argued: “…We more than share the worries about the debt crisis in the Euro area. It’s in our own interest to overcome this crisis… The crisis has affected different countries in different ways. These divergences were reflected in the current account of the balance of payments. Today these divergences are decreasing significantly. So are the fiscal deficits in the Euro area. A common currency needs this convergence.

We continue also combining three ways of tackling this crisis: reforms at the level of the Member States and at the level of the Euro area; promoting economic growth with an active agenda on investment and at the same time ensuring differentiated fiscal consolidation; crisis management with new financial and governance tools (for instance recapitalising the banks) and at the same time deepening our economic and monetary union, so that the euro becomes an irreversible project…”

“…The Euro area Member States are determined, all the more after the choice made by the Greek people. Greece wants to stay in the eurozone. We are confident that the new Greek government will take ownership of the adjustment programme to which the Greek authorities had committed earlier this year. This is the basis upon which to build to foster growth, prosperity and jobs for the Greek people…”

Finally, European Parliament President Martin Schulz made the following statement on the results on parliamentary elections in Greece: “I welcome the results of the general elections in Greece. The results show a broad and clear support in favour of Greece staying in the euro zone.

I salute the efforts of the Greek people to overcome the crisis. They have made great sacrifices. I hope the burden of the reforms will be spread more equally to achieve greater social justice.

I hope that Greece will rapidly form a government that breaks the political deadlock and pursues the required reforms to overhaul the economy and Greek public finances. The Greek people deserve a stable and prosperous future.

I congratulate Antonis Samaras and his New Democracy party for winning the elections and I encourage the Greek political forces to form a responsible coalition government in the coming days.

I am particularly pleased with New Democracy’s declaration that they will broadly stick to commitments Greece has made to the European Union.

The new Greek government will be able to count on our constructive cooperation in possible fine-tuning of its reform strategy and economic targets. If Greece sticks to its commitments, the EU can examine what could be done further to solve the crisis.”