Samaras plea for more time rejected

Germany's Economy Minister Philipp Rösler rejected calls yesterday for Greece to get more time to implement economic reforms.

Rösler, the Vice-Chancellor, said Greece needs to stick to the time plan outlined in the bailout deal reached with its creditors. Greece's Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, had told the German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a meeting in Berlin on Friday that his country needs "time to breathe" before it can make all the budget cuts and reforms demanded of it. But Rösler insisted in a TV interview on Sunday that "time is always money".

AP