How Is Samaras Doing? So Far, the Euro Zone Likes the New Greek Leader
Joanna Kakissis, Time, 27.08.2012
Just two months after his party eked out a victory in contentious Greek elections, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is wooing another tough crowd: euro-zone leaders.
Last week was a good start. On Wednesday, he got the backing of Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker, when Juncker visited Athens and declared that he was “totally opposed” to Greece leaving the euro, the European Union’s common currency. On Friday, Samaras also received the support of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is the biggest contributor to the bailout loans to Greece. “I want Greece to stay in the euro zone and that’s what I’m working for,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin, rebuking anti-Greece lawmakers in her own governing coalition. And on Saturday, French President Francois Hollande said he saluted Greeks for weathering painful austerity cuts over the last two-and-a-half years. […]
However, the Europeans’ newfound love for Greece has little to do with Samaras himself, who infuriated euro-zone leaders for two years when he virulently opposed austerity measures during the Socialist PASOK government led by former premier George Papandreou. The euro-zone brass simply views Samaras as the country’s “last chance leader,” says Janis Emmanouilidis, a senior analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels. “Samaras has long been seen as an obstructionist but the Europeans believe there isn’t another option,” Emmanoulidis says.
“European leaders believe Samaras will be far easier to negotiate with than Tsipras, whom they feared as an even bigger obstructionist,” Emmanouilidis says. “But there’s fear that if Samaras doesn’t come through, Greece won’t make it.” […]
For the entire article see here.
Latest media contributions
EPC Update / Post-summit Briefing: Informal leaders' retreat: New momentum for European competitiveness?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 16.02.2026
EPC Update / Post-summit Briefing: The Greenland crisis: A test for Europe's credibilitye need for strategic choices
Online Briefing, YouTube, 23.01.2026
EPC Update: EUrope in 2026: the need for strategic choices
Online Briefing, YouTube, 12.01.2026
EPC Update / Post-summit Briefing: The last EU Summit of 2025: a real moment of truth?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 19.12.2025
The next MFF: an adequate answer to EUrope’s challenges?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 24.11.2025
The future of enlargement and EU reform – the candidates' perspective
EU Democracy Reform Conversation, YouTube, 27.10.2025
October Summit: Can the European Council move from divisions to delivery?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 24.10.2025
EPC Update / Post-summit Briefing: Copenhagen and beyond: accelerating progress on defence and Ukraine?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 02.10.2025
State of the Union 2025: A crisis of confidence?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 10.09.2025
EPC Update / Post-summit Briefing: A tale of two summits: Will the EU27 agree on a major leap forward?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 27.06.2025