国际英语新闻：Greek PM vows to continue reforms to curb debt crisis

ATHENS, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday stressed that the country will continue to work toward curbing the debt crisis through reforms.

"In 2011 we will continue the historic changes to create a different Greece through a concrete program to restore development, transparency and social justice," Papandreou told the last cabinet meeting in 2010.

"We will continue the reforms which will benefit the majority of Greek society, despite resistance by groups of people with special interests," he said.

The socialist government's top priorities after the holidays include the mass transport restructure plan, a bill to boost development, the opening up of closed professions and markets, as well as the restructure of state-controlled companies.

The Greek Finance Ministry announced Wednesday that payroll costs for 52 state-controlled companies in the first nine months of this year were reduced by 15 percent compared to 2009 to 812.3 million euros (1.067 billion U.S. dollars) from 955.7 million euros (1.255 billion U.S. dollars).

The change is attributed to the wage cuts implemented in the framework of an austerity and reform program to overcome the debt crisis over a three- year period.

Burdened by a budget deficit which reached 15.4 percent of GDP in late 2009, Greece aims to slash it to less than three percent of GDP by 2014 and return to growth.

Athens secured in May a multi-billion-dollar financial aid package by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union, pledging full and prompt implementation of the program.

The first quarter of 2011 is considered crucial, as Greece needs to speed up changes in order to receive the fourth tranche of EU-IMF loans in March.

As the cabinet meeting was convening, a group of Greek citizens staged a colorful protest with clowns, muppets and balloons in the Syntagma square in front of the parliament building in the center of Athens on Wednesday noon, asking for the return of their own money.

Meanwhile, Greece's public transport union said it will continue the string of protests against painful austerity measures and reforms into the new year.

"We will continue to the end. It is up to the government to define which will be the end," union chief Nikos Kouloubaritsis told Xinhua.

The subway in Athens and trains across Greece will not be running on New Year's Eve, the union announced on Wednesday.