A day after European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said that Greece was on track to achieve a four per cent deficit reduction target in 2010, European Commission President Jose Barroso praised the same "remarkable achievement" and expressed EU solidarity with Greek prime minister George Papandreou’s government.
 
Speaking on March 17 in Brussels after meeting Papandreou, Barroso said of Greece’s economic situation: "We are in a calmer situation now than we were some weeks before.
 
"This has only been possible because of the remarkable efforts over the last couple of months by prime minister Papandreou and his government," Barroso said.
 
Thanks to a substantial package of bold measures of fiscal consolidation, Greece was on track to achieve the ambitious target of four per cent deficit reduction in 2010. "This is a remarkable achievement in its own right," he said.
 
Restoring economic growth and consolidating public finances are two sides of the same coin, according to Barroso.
 
"There can be no sustainable economic growth and job creation, nor sustainable social welfare, if a nation’s public debt continues to spiral out of control."
 
Barroso said that these efforts were needed, "not to please Brussels or the European partners –or the markets– but first and foremost for the future of Greek pensions, Greek public services, the financing of schools and hospitals, to invest in new sources of economic growth and for the prosperity of Greece and its people".
 
"I want to stress that our rules and the Euro are there to help not hinder getting Greece back to track," Barroso said.
 
He said that the Ecofin meeting, of the bloc’s finance ministers, on March 16 had clarified the modalities of a co-ordinated assistance to Greece, should this become necessary.
 
The European Commission had been working actively with euro area member states to design such a European mechanism of co-ordinated assistance.
 
Papandreou had confirmed again at their meeting that this was not necessary, at this stage, Barroso said.
 
Barroso said that they had discussed "reinforced economic surveillance".
 
The financial and economic crisis had made the case more clearly than ever on the need to reinforce economic policy co-ordination and country surveillance in the euro area, based on the new article 136 of the Lisbon Treaty. The Commission will make proposals on this in the next month, Barroso said.
 
Papandreou, according to a report by Euractiv, said that Athens counted on an EU or euro zone aid programme being approved if necessary to help his country, but did not rule out other options such as seeking aid from the International Monetary Fund.
 
"We have left all options open but we expect the euro zone can deal with this possibility, which might never occur," Papandreou said.

Responding to remarks in the German parliament by chancellor Angela Merkel that there should be a system for repeat offenders to be expelled from the euro zone, Papandreou said: "Certainly, I would say there is zero possibility of [Greece] leaving the eurozone".