Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, speaking at a press conference in Brussels on Friday (March 21), stated that Greece's image in Europe is improving. The two days of the European Council had been very positive for the country's image, Samaras said, underlining that Greece earned positive comments from all sides for the successful conclusion of negotiations with the troika of its international lenders, the primary surplus confirmation and the decisive promotion of reforms. “Everybody underlines that Greece has met its goals and we are turning a new page,” he said, adding that “we are moving forward and everything will be done in the way it should.”

He noted that the Greek EU Presidency is deemed successful , as in the last two and-a-half months it had completed 54 legislative initiatives on tough issues that had been pending for a long time.

On the agreement in principle as regards the banks' Single Resolution Mechanism, he pointed that it is the most crucial step toward the EU banking union; it clears the way for the stabilisation of the Eurozone, through confidence in its banking system, safety of bank deposits and liquidity.