Prime Minister Antonis Samaras addressed the Greek-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Athens yesterday. In commemoration of its 90-year anniversary, the Chamber organized a dinner for its members. The Chamber has 955 members and oversees 20,000 commercial deals on an annual basis, while representing Greece at international conventions in Berlin, Cologne, Hanover, Munich, Nuremburg and Stuttgart.

The premier said that Greece is heading toward recovery and an exit from bailout programmes, and appeared confident that the country has finally escaped the risk of default. "The recovery in now beginning and a new Greece is emerging," he said.

Samaras also referred with particular emphasis to the primary surplus achieved in 2013, stressing its significance. As he put it, the reform programme was working and economic recovery will begin in 2014: "I am telling the truth and you know it. Yes, the first bailout memorandum was wrong and that’s why we changed it."