Madrid, 16/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - “Greece has not asked for assistance” from the eurozone countries, said Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday 16 April after the meeting of eurozone finance ministers, which was not attended by the German, Belgian, Irish and Maltese ministers due to the disruption to air travel caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland. In Juncker's view, the “letter” that the Greek authorities had sent to the European Commission on Thursday, as well as to the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), simply reflected Greece's wish to comply with IMF procedures and was not an “indication of any kind of manoeuvring” intended to formally activate the aid mechanism finalised by the Eurogroup at the beginning of the week. Jean-Claude Juncker simply said that the preparations for implementing such a mechanism in each member state were making progress “at a satisfactory rate” should activation be required. When asked about the financial markets' still pessimistic reaction each time details of the aid mechanism are given, the Luxembourg prime minister said the Eurogroup had always taken “coherent” decisions in this field and that he never commented on day-to-day developments on the stock exchanges. A delegation including representatives of the Commission, the ECB and the IMF will be in Athens on Monday 19 April for more discussion on a multiannual programme for economic policies, that may include financial assistance from eurozone member states and the IMF. (M.B./transl.jl)