Decisions or moves that will lead to decisions will be taken today and it is fundamentally crucial that we send a message that policies that affect not only us but the whole of southern Europe, are just not going to pass, This pig-headed insistence on applying austerity measures that worsen recession, that kill hope or any chance of the economy rebounding, are obviously totally wrong.
Both countries have applied austerity measures that have greatly affected the health sector.
Greece faces bankruptcy within weeks if it fails to apply further austerity measures in return for rescue funds from the EU and IMF.
"We appreciate that difficult decisions have to be made, applying to austerity," he says.
Mr Rajoy's reformist government is desperate, begging for more aid everywhere in Europe as it is applying painful austerity measures.
Athens is under pressure to apply more fiscal austerity to shore up its finances as part of a new rescue package it received this year, worth €130 billion, or $171 billion, from other euro zone states and the International Monetary Fund.
It is the centre-left Democratic Party PDD) that is most anxious to apply the fiscal austerity enjoined by the European Commission and the Germans, whereas the right-wing People of Freedom (PdL) movement under Silvio Berlusconi is keen to ignore deficit ceilings in an effort to revive Italy's stagnant economy and, conveniently, to fulfil Mr Berlusconi's campaign promise of lower taxes.
With the conversation in Washington focused not just on austerity but how much austerity to apply to a sputtering economy, it's hard to imagine what kind of rebooted jobs plan the president could propose for his next term while staying within the bounds of political reality.
Practice austerity and exhibit discipline.
The euro-zone crisis has focused minds, and even the French or, at least, those not marching this week know that they cannot expect Europe's new austerity to apply to everybody except them.
