Officials attend a press conference during an informal meeting of European Union finance ministers in Bratislava, Slovakia, September 9, 2016.
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The EU’s Economic Affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Athens must deliver on 15 reforms, with only two of those achieved so far. Greece, which depends on a bailout c.
Greece signed up to a third worldwide bailout in mid-2015 worth up to 86 billion euros, with the gradual release of aid contingent on financial reforms ranging from privatizations to changes to the energy market.
Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazimir, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, praised Greece’s efforts to put its economic house in order but said Athens’ job is not done.
While work to enact the remaining requirements – such as asset sales and bank governance – for the latest payout is under way and the Greek government has time to qualify for the disbursement before it expires at the end of October, any persistent delays risk clouding the outlook for the next global review of Greece’s bailout progress and the prospects for debt relief being dangled by the creditors.
“It’s not a secret. that there is a lot to be done to complete these reforms”, he said after the ministers discussed Greece’s bailout.
The Greek government has made some progress in reshaping the country’s economy over the past six years but it’s still encumbered by a heavy debt burden which is more than 175 percent of national income.
The decision today “is not necessarily going to be straightforward”, given that so few of the reforms have been implemented, says The Guardian, while the Greek Reporter asked earlier this week if Greece was “headed to another bailout stand-off”.
Tax policies within the European Union were also on the agenda at the Bratislava meeting amid calls for an end to corporation loopholes.
The Eurogroup must decide whether Greece has done enough to “meet the milestones agreed in its financial assistance programme”, according to the agenda on the European Council website – and some sources say the answer will be “no”. He said he backed the idea of drawing up black list of tax haven countries as a detriment to unfair tax practices.
“At the time of Brexit, and while populism is on the rise in Europe, it is very important to send a message of cohesion and contribute to the dialogue from southern Europe”, French President Francois Hollande stressed.
“The Maltese economy has nearly nothing in common with the economies of the other countries here today”, Muscat said.
Under the terms of the bailout deal signed in 2015, the global lenders including the worldwide Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the eurozone are to provide €86 billion in aid to Greece by 2018 in return for unpopular austerity measures in the country.
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Kazimir projected optimism nonetheless, declaring “the future is bright”.
