By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has praised Spain for lending the economically beleaguered country €26bn, after he held talks with his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy in Athens.

Speaking after a meeting with Samaras at the government headquarters in the Greek capital, Rajoy said harsh austerity measures in Greece and Spain were "bearing fruit".

Samaras expressed his gratitude towards the Spanish people for their "solidarity".

He said: "Spain has showed its solidarity in practice. It has participated, since 2010, in the rescue mechanism when other markets shut their doors."

"Both nations face common problems due to the financial crisis, but also from waves of migration."

"The Spanish people have lent the Greek people €26bn; we do not forget, we acknowledge it and the Greek people will return the money”, Samaras said, noting that the "big bet" was that reforms in the countries would "bring competitiveness".

- Harsh measures

The Spanish Prime Minister noted, in a message of support towards the Greek government ahead of elections on Jan. 25 Jan., the need to continue the "reforms".

Greece has suffered plummeting living standards and unprecedented unemployment since 2008 with many people across the country struggling to pay even basic bills, as it struggles to meet harsh "austerity measures" imposed by the Troika of the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission under terms of "bailouts" provided by the group.

The International Labour Organisation warned last month of "a prolonged social crisis" in the country unless action was taken to boost the job market in the country. 

Samaras' New Democracy party, which has lost voters to neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, is lagging behind Alexis Tsipras' Syriza, which has attracted voters from PanHellenic Socialist Movement, the junior partner in the governing coalition, in opinion polls ahead of the country's election on Jan. 25.

Three surveys conducted in Greece showed last week that Syriza remains ahead of the ruling conservatives in the polls, with a lead of about two or three points.