Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling told reporters ahead of the meeting he was “not feeling very good about Greece”. Ministers for economic and financial affairs gather for a two-day informal meeting in the Slovak capital, where they will discuss BREXIT, taxation, migration crisis.
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European Union finance ministers discussed Friday whether to withhold bailout aid to Greece once again amid signs that the country is falling short of its commitments to reform its economy.
Protesters demanded for the government to pull out of the bailout deal with Greece’s global creditors and put an end to austerity measures demanded in exchange for unlocking bailout funds.
Greece is due to fulfil 15 reforms, including privatisation plans and energy sector changes, in September to get the final 2.8 billion euros available in this tranche. And while the European ministers do not appear concerned about stretching that deadline, there are limits – the disbursement of the money has to happen by October at the latest.
Some 2,500 officers from the police, coast guard, and fire service – most in uniform – marched through the center of Thessaloniki in northern Greece Friday, demanding a reversal of salary cuts linked to the country’s global bailout. The national debt is set to peak this year at a whopping 182.8 percent of gross domestic product, according to European Commission estimates.
A summit of Mediterranean EU countries will not herald the start of a new bloc within the union, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted. “The way to have a bigger say is to seek a common approach and common positions”, Tsipras said.
Euro-area finance ministers sounded a familiar alarm bell about lagging Greek economic reforms, saying the nation still has much to do to qualify for its next aid payout. European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici commented on the dispute between the EC and U.S. tech giant Apple regarding tax evasion fines, he said the Commission was a political body and efforts were being made to quash tax evasion on a global scale.
“There are 7,000 people ready and waiting to be relocated, so in this field other European countries and the European Union do not appear to. have done what they ought to have done”, he said. He said he backed the idea of drawing up black list of tax haven countries as a detriment to unfair tax practices.
At another meeting of European leaders in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Friday, finance ministers from across the bloc cautioned against letting deficits grow in Spain and Portugal.
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Kazimir projected optimism nonetheless, declaring “the future is bright”.
