crisis in Greece........
17 September 2013 Last updated at 05:29 ET
Teachers are protesting against public sector cuts
Crisis in Greece: PM Samaras sees recovery by 2019
Teachers are protesting against public sector cuts
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said the debt-ridden country could return to pre-crisis living standards within six years.
"According to most [experts], we will not need a couple of decades, not a couple of generations, but only six years," he said in a speech.
He was speaking in Rome ahead of talks with EU officials in Brussels.
International lenders are due to conduct a new audit of Greece, where strikes against cuts are under way.
State school teachers walked out on Monday, with thousands attending rallies outside parliament in the capital, Athens, as well as the second city, Thessaloniki.
Greece's economy has shrunk by 23% since 2008, and international lenders expect it to diminish by a further 4.2% this year.
The country has received two aid packages totalling about 240bn euros (£205bn; $321bn) and will need about 10bn euros more to cover a funding gap.
New money
Speaking at a conference organised by the International Herald Tribune, Mr Samaras said his government had implemented "sweeping reforms".
Mr Samaras, who leads a fragile coalition between his conservative New Democracy party and leftist parties, has agreed to put 25,000 civil servants on a reduced salary this year before they are transferred or dismissed.
The action is being taken in exchange for a new instalment of loans worth 1bn euros from the so-called troika of lenders - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
It is the first time under the Greek constitution that public sector workers will lose their jobs, with 15,000 redundancies expected by the end of 2014, the BBC'S Mark Lowen in Athens reports.
Some 4,500 civil servants - mostly teaching staff - were already redeployed at the end of July.
A technical team from the troika is due to arrive in Athens this week, followed by senior mission chiefs on 22 September, AFP news agency reports.
They are expected to examine the privatisation of three ailing industries - mining company Larko, truck manufacturer Elvo and defence contractor EAS - and the drafting of a new property tax.
'Impossible to live'
When protesting school guards tried to push their way into the ministry of administrative reform on Monday, police fired tear gas.
"We want our jobs back!" former school guard Eleni Stathaki, 53, told Reuters news agency, weeping. "They threw us out but want us to keep paying taxes. It's impossible to live like this."
As protesters marched through Athens to parliament, they chanted "Let's kick the government, the EU and the IMF out!" and held banners reading "No firings!"
Greece insists that its notoriously inefficient and bloated public sector needs reform, our correspondent says.
But with unemployment nearing 30%, it is a hard argument to sell to the people, he adds.
bbc
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