The decisions taken by European Union leaders early on Thursday have ensured that Greece's debt will be sustainable in the long term, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos stressed in a press conference concerning the EU summit's results.

He noted that this had simultaneously guaranteed both the liquidity of Greece's banking system and its recapitalisation for the benefit of the country's economy and the protection of bank deposits.

The minister said that the goal was for Greece's debt to be at 120 percent of GDP in 2020 and fully sustainable, even based on the strict criteria applied by the International Monetary Fund.

Venizelos pointed out that, without the decision for a debt haircut, Greece's public debt would have soared to 173 percent of GDP by the year 2020. As a result of the decision, the reduction of debt would amount to 53 percentage points of GDP.

He was categoric in stressing that there would be no new measures or sacrifices demanded of the Greek people, since all the necessary economic measures for 2011 and 2012 had already been passed by Parliament - a decisive factor for the outcome of the overnight negotiations at the EU. (AMNA)