New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras, on March 23-25 paid a three-day visit to Spain and Portugal where he held meetings with the two countries’ leaderships, with talks focusing on the issues of economy and migration. Following a meeting with Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, on March 23, Samaras stressed the need for urgent measures aimed at the recovery and growth of recession-plagued Spanish and Greek economies.

On March 25, while meeting with Portugal’s Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, in Lisbon, Samaras noted that he returns from his trip to the Iberian peninsula convinced that Greece has found two good friends, in the Prime Ministers of Spain and Portugal, as all three countries share a common fate.