FRANKFURT (MNI) – Following is the first half of the verbatim text
of the speech made Sunday by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to
Cabinet:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have convened this Cabinet today to an
historic meeting. All the citizens of Greece feel the crucial nature of
these moments and the burden of historical responsibility. Avoiding
bankruptcy is a red line for the Nation.

“I would like to make it absolutely clear to everybody — I have
done and will always do whatever it takes for the country not to go
bankrupt. We are waging together a difficult and relentless battle
dealing with the problems — the dimensions of which one could never
have imagined. It is true, we were the first to speak of the crisis —
a crisis of politics, a crisis of institutions, a crisis of values which
in turn led to the huge economic crisis.

“No citizen of Greece could however ever have imagined the size of
the debt and the deficit which the former government had caused and hid
upon its exit. This is not the time for accusations, however. The
people of Greece are fully aware of where they lie. The consequences
however are manifold.

“First of all, the lack of trust that Greek citizens have in their
institutions and the present political system, the lack of credibility
of our political system is so great that citizens even show distrust to
us and to this government. From the first day however I personally and
all of us here have fought battle after battle trying to finally make
those profound changes and create a society where justice prevails,
where the money of the Greek people is put to good use and where the
democratic state protects the rights of its citizens.

“For the first time in years a government is working with such
dedication to the task assigned to it by the citizens of this country.

“In all sincerity, we are a different government. Despite this
long battle with the crisis of debt and lending, day by day, we are
making small and even greater reforms to a system which did not serve
the interests of this country.

“This is something we will continue to do ceaselessly as we round
the cape of economic crisis in order not to find ourselves in this
situation again.

“Our first concern was to regain credibility with our citizens. We
have been honest from the very first moment with the Greek people.

“A second objective was to regain credibility internationally and
chiefly with Europe, because in October 2009 nobody would listen to us.
Nobody would believe us. We have struggled to this end because we knew
that without credibility we would find no understanding — let alone
support. We would be in a vacuum. We would be struggling alone,
abandoned to our enormous debts. These are our debts. We would have
been alone face to face with our creditors and speculators.

“We could not have rallied support due to our previous lack of
credibility. The only possible help — and this would have been an even
more difficult route — was the 10-20 billion Euros which at best the
IMF would have ensured, at a time when the state needed 60 billion Euros
in loans annually.

“We have waged a battle of credibility and have won and today
present a programme for a different Greece, along with immediate
emergency measures in order to convince people that these were not just
empty words. We have moved ahead with radical changes to the tax
system, in transparency and the structure and functioning of the state.

“We have taken austere and painful measures which were however
necessary to increase revenue, to restrict expenditure, to continue to
function as a state, to ensure the maximum, to be able to continue
paying salaries and pensions.

“To show that the citizens of Greece have not fled the battle we
have run a marathon of contacts and negotiations. It is with this
struggle to regain credibility that we have been able to make the
international community sit up and take notice of the courageous efforts
of our people. We have been able to convince our partners that the
problem of Greece is not solely our problem. It also concerns the
functioning of the markets. It concerns the protection of the Euro.

“Thus, the European Union decided to set up a completely new
mechanism to support Greece. The decision of the European Union on the
25th March was decisive and historic for Greece but also for Europe.
Just think where we would be today without this European support
mechanism — our problems would be unsurpassable.

“We had sincerely believed, both we and our European partners, that
the existence of this mechanism would in itself be enough to facilitate
the borrowing needs of Greece. Unfortunately that was not the case.

“From the first moment, the first E.U. Council of Ministers I
attended as Prime Minister of Greece — and without once shirking the
responsibility of Greece — I stated that the problem was greater and
more serious.

“I stated that it concerned the stability of the financial system
of Europe and the Euro, that it concerned the functioning of the
international financial system and that a small fire could kindle a
firestorm. Some people agreed, some not. Perhaps some thought we were
seeking an alibi to offload responsibility instead of undertaking our
own responsibilities.

“We however undertake this responsibility despite the decisions of
the European Union, positive decisions. Ambiguities gave a signal to
the market that there was a lack of decisiveness. Some have targeted
Greece which through its own actions became the weak link and
guinea-pig. Greece continued to be the target and guinea-pig in an
unfavourable international economic climate. It was a weak link and
easy prey to speculators.

“Today the problem has assumed greater proportions. We see that
the fire threatens to spread harming Greece even more, but also
spreading to other countries and economies of the Eurozone and even
further afield.

“The cost of putting out the fire is expected to be much greater,
as unfortunately will be the burden that Greek citizens have to bear.
The need to have recourse to the mechanism unavoidably means additional
and more immediate efforts and sacrifices sought by creditors and our
partners in order to guarantee financing our needs and for us to move
out of the crisis safely.

“I know that with the decisions today our citizens must suffer
greater sacrifices. The alternative however would be catastrophe and
greater suffering for us all. This is why we have decided not to yield
one step. This is not a pleasant decision for me or for anybody. We
are here however to take the correct decisions for our country. This
was and is our responsibility.

“This is the responsibility that I personally have undertaken to
serve. This is a responsibility towards the common interest of
Hellenism. We have realized very early on that a European mechanism was
needed which could help refinance our debt with record amounts in world
history.

“We have set up this mechanism from scratch. We sought its
activation a few days ago and today we ratify the agreement. This is an
unprecedented agreement and an unprecedented support package for an
unprecedented effort by the Greek nation.”

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–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: frankfurt@marketnews.com

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