Greece's
president used an annual commemoration of the country's stand against
fascism in World War Two on Monday to warn that Athens would not yield
to pressure from foreign lenders to impose more austerity.
The blunt comments by President Karolos Papoulias - a former World War II resistance fighter who holds a ceremonial but revered post - come as Athens finds itself at odds with its EU/IMF lenders over budget savings to hit targets under its second bailout.
At an annual military parade in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, marking the rejection of Italy's ultimatum to Greece to surrender in 1940 - one of the most symbolic events in Greece's political calendar - Papoulias said Greeks today were as firm in the face of crisis as they were then and would not give in to what he called foreign "blackmail".
"We are honouring today the dead of this great battle against the cholera of fascism, the Italian fascism of 1940," Papoulias told reporters after the parade.
"Greeks gave their blood and whatever they could (in 1940) and today have given what they could to overcome the crisis. This must be appreciated by Europe. Greek people cannot give anything more," he said.
Source and full story: The West Australian/Reuters, 28 October 2013
The blunt comments by President Karolos Papoulias - a former World War II resistance fighter who holds a ceremonial but revered post - come as Athens finds itself at odds with its EU/IMF lenders over budget savings to hit targets under its second bailout.
At an annual military parade in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, marking the rejection of Italy's ultimatum to Greece to surrender in 1940 - one of the most symbolic events in Greece's political calendar - Papoulias said Greeks today were as firm in the face of crisis as they were then and would not give in to what he called foreign "blackmail".
"We are honouring today the dead of this great battle against the cholera of fascism, the Italian fascism of 1940," Papoulias told reporters after the parade.
"Greeks gave their blood and whatever they could (in 1940) and today have given what they could to overcome the crisis. This must be appreciated by Europe. Greek people cannot give anything more," he said.
Source and full story: The West Australian/Reuters, 28 October 2013
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