Antonis Samaras Quotations

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."

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Today is a new day for the land.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

If the program goes off track again due to recession, this should not become a pretext for the imposition of more austerity measures.

The Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European path and in the eurozone.