President Karolos Papoulias stressed in his New Year's message that every year at this time some seek the joy of the celebration in its material dimension.

"I think that greater spiritual satisfaction can come if we turn to offering. Each of us has something to give to his fellow man who is suffering from illness, poverty, from loneliness, from exclusion form the lack of perspective and hope," he said.

President Papoulias further said that his thoughts are first of all with the weak, the defenceless and those treated unjustly and conveyed his concern to them for all that the state owes to them and his regret for all that they have been deprived of.

"My thoughts are also with the young people who are being called on to survive in an environment that is becoming all the more competitive, all the more harsher, all the more bare of humanitarian values and visions," he stressed.

The President extended his greetings tho those who are distant from their loved ones, soldiers, those working in hospitals and those undergoing treatment, to seamen, to every fellow countryman who is not participating in the celebration.

"I am absolutely sure of the creative forces of the Greek people and of their ability to face adversities and difficulties. It is now common knowledge that the time has come for decisive changes in the functioning of the Greek state and in collective mentalities and conceptions. In its history, Hellenism has shown that it succeeds with bigger issues more so than with small ones. The big ones are being judged in our times. And I am optimistic that 2010 will be a better year for the many," he concluded.