George Papandreou Quotes

Countries Are Not Like Financial Markets. Social Change Cannot Be Executed As Swiftly As Credit-default Swaps. You Cannot Sell Short On Social Commitments And Practical Responsibilities.

The Real Problem In Greece Is Not Cutting Taxes, It's Making Sure That We Don't Have Tax Evasion.

The Structures In Europe In A Globalising Economy Need To Be Modernised, Need To Be More Integrated, Need To Be Stronger.

As Long As I Feel I Am Doing What I Think Is Right And Just For My Country, For The Greek People, That Is Enough For Me. Saving Greece From This Crisis Was The First Thing On The Agenda. We Are Now On A Much More Normalised Road.

At Times Of Distress, We All Like To Recall The Advice Of Fathers And Mothers. The Best Advice My Father Gave Me Was To Keep Faith And Deep Confidence In The Potential Of The Greek People; Nurture The Belief That They Can Do Things.

But Sovereign Debt Is A Wider Question Not Only In Europe But Across The Globe. While Every Country Is A Unique Case, I Think It's Not An Issue Of Countries Acting On Their Own. We Need A More Coordinated Strategy Not Only In Europe But Around The World.

Europe Is A Strong Market For The U.s. If It Has Problems, If There's A Lack Of Consumer Confidence, If There's A Deeper Recession, This Will Deeply Affect Jobs In The U.s.

First Of All, Greece Won't Go Down. We're Talking About A Country That Is Capable Of Making Change. Europe Will Not Allow The Destabilization Of The 27-country Euro Zone. But If There Were No Action, Then Markets Would Start Becoming Jittery About Other Countries - And Not Only Spain And Portugal, But Other Countries In The European Union.

I Have Been Supporting The European Union, But We Are Still A Work In Progress. We Have To Become More Of A United States Of Europe. We Should Talk About Electing A President Of The E.u., Rather Than Having One Selected From The Heads Of Government.

If Greece Had Gone Through A Very Normal Political Life, I May Have Not Been In Politics. But Just The Fact That I Lived Through Huge Upheavals And Very Difficult Struggles And Polarization And The Barbarism Of Dictatorships - That Made Me Feel That We Had To Change This Country.

I Think There Is A Heritage Which I’m Proud Of, Which Is A Fight For Democracy, A Fight For Social Justice, A Fight For Freedom. My Grandfather Went To Jail Or Exile Six Times In His Life, Fighting For His Principles For Democracy, Or For His Country. And My Father Twice.

If You Put All The European Countries Together, We Are The Biggest Economy In The World.