Having recovered from eye surgery that has prevented him travelling since June, Samaras will fly to Berlin and Paris to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande. Earlier in the week, he will meet eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker, Greek and German government officials said yesterday (15 August).
Samaras will meet Merkel on 24 August, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters. The dates of the other two meetings were to be announced later.
Samaras will insist he can ram through an austerity package worth about €11.5 billion - a key condition to continue receiving EU/IMF bailout funds and avoid default and a possible exit from the currency club.
Greece is falling short of the budget cut and privatisation promises it made in March to obtain a second, €130-billion bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. This has led to calls by politicians in its biggest lender, Germany, for the country be ousted from the eurozone.
"Our key priority is to regain our credibility by showing our determination," a Greek government official said.
Greece has yet to nail down the requested austerity package.
The bulk of the cuts will come from state salaries and pensions, and up to 40,000 public sector firings, further angering an austerity-weary public that often takes to the streets. The coalition's two leftist junior partners have also opposed any further cuts.
Samaras, who took office on 17 June, is already preparing public opinion for yet more suffering. "We're all having a difficult time. There will be more hardship," he said on Monday from his southern Greek home region of Messinia.
EU officials told Reuters last month that Athens was way off its bailout targets, was unlikely to be able to pay what it owes and further debt restructuring is likely to be necessary if it was not to be abandoned.
