Euro-area finance chiefs handed Greece the prospect of talks on debt relief as soon as its bailout review wraps up, while renewing their call on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government to act on pensions, privatization and the budget.
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A successful review will pave the way for discussions on how to reduce Greece’s debt burden and release more bailout cash. Dijsselbloem confirmed that the debt discussions will be forthcoming.
“We will hear from the institutions where we stand, where there are possibilities and where there are no possibilities anymore, and then we will see how we get this working again”, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch Finance Minister, told reporters.
Euro zone lenders and the International Monetary Fund have diverging views on how ambitious Greece’s reforms, including on pensions, need to be to make the Greek economy sustainable.
The IMF, which has yet to commit to Greece’s third bailout program as its previous support package has yet to expire, has argued strongly in favor of a big debt relief package for Greece and has suggested that the forecasts that the Greek bailout is based on are too rosy.
Greece cleared a crucial hurdle in its massive bailout programme on Monday as eurozone ministers promised to consider debt relief to Athens, which is already under pressure from the refugee crisis.
“I am sure that sensible people, when they sit down at the table, will find a sensible conclusion”, said Tsakalotos.
Worries over Greece have re-emerged in recent weeks partly because the left-led Greek government has a small parliamentary majority, which makes it more hard to deliver the reforms required by creditors.
But urgency could increase as Greece also struggles with a growing migration crisis, which could weigh on the country’s budget and further stress its left-wing government.
The country is also facing huge problems dealing with a stream of migrants, many of whom are escaping war-torn Syria.
“The last thing we need is to prolong this into a crisis which will come to a head in July” as happened a year ago, Stubb said in an interview Monday.
Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand.
“Consequently, we have to show more flexibility in regard to the application of deficit criteria”, Mr. Schulz said.
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