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Greece swears in new prime minister

June 20, 2012 RSS Feed Print

The June 28-29 summit "will be the first big battle on the revision of the bailout agreement, the creation of a framework that will allow us to move to positive growth and to combat unemployment, which is the big problem of Greek society," Venizelos said.

The willingness of Greece's international creditors to soften some of the terms will be key. So far, while there have been some slightly conciliatory voices, it is unclear just how much tolerance there will be.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country has often taken a hard stance on the Greek crisis, said it was "good news" that a government had been put together quickly.

"It is important that Greece now takes the right measures to implement the agreements that we made in the eurogroup," he said after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. "I assume that these agreements will be adhered to."

Merkel, whose country is the main contributor to the bailout, called Samaras to congratulate him and wished him "luck and success in the difficult work that lies ahead of him," the German government said. It added that Merkel hopes for "good cooperation" with Samaras and his government, and she invited him to visit Berlin.

The austerity has left the country struggling through a fifth year of recession, with unemployment spiraling to above 22 percent and tens of thousands of businesses shutting down.

Earlier Wednesday, hundreds of poverty-stricken Greeks queued in a central Athens park for free vegetables. Cretan farmers handed out some 2,700 10-kilo (22-pound) packages of produce, in cooperation with the capital's municipal authorities.

Among those lining up was Panayiota Sidera, a 31-year-old unemployed Athenian whose husband is also out of a job. The couple lives on a €250 monthly disability pension and rent from an apartment they own, and has a €540-a-month loan installment to pay.

"That's my predicament," she said. The food handout "is helping people, and I'm grateful. ... The government should have been doing this years ago."

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Nicholas Paphitis and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Athens and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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