Prime Minister Antonis Samaras travelled to Paris yesterday to participate in the second EU summit on tackling unemployment among young people in Europe. The conference follows a July summit initiated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin (3.07.2013). European leaders agreed to carry out a scheme aimed at tackling the continent's youth joblessness among 15-24 year olds.

Samaras outlined the Greek government's key priorities: "Different member-states have different levels of youth unemployment, for different reasons, but we all need to take common action," he said. He then outlined the general direction of the Greek government's new policies, with structural reforms in the economy and society.

Samaras stressed that Greece was fully prepared for a comprehensive implementation of two basic programmes for young people demanded by Europe, the "Young People's Initiative" and "Guarantees for Youth", announcing that full implementation of both programmes will be achieved as of January 2014.

Greek premier ended on a note of optimism, saying that "2014 must be the year for the recovery of the European economy, which will allow us to deal finally with unemployment among the young."

The premier was accompanied at the conference by Labour Minister Yiannis Vroutsis, who had arrived a day earlier and attended a morning conference with his European counterparts.