Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras says his country needs more time to effectively implement financial reforms and spending cuts, as eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker heads to Athens for the first of Samaras' top-level meetings on his country's international bailout.

Juncker arrives in Athens Wednesday afternoon for talks with Samaras and his finance minister, Yannis Stournaras. The Greek premier heads to Berlin later this week for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then on to Paris to see French President Francois Hollande.

Samaras, speaking to the popular German daily Bilt, said Greece needs "a little air to breathe" to get the economy going, but insisted this did not necessarily mean more money.