Brussels, 20/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 April 2010, the European Commission insisted that Greece spell out the extra measures it is planning to take to continue to reduce its public deficit in 2011 and 2012. A spokesperson for EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said that Greece's aim for 2010 was “clear”, namely reducing the country's deficit by 4 % from 12.7% to 8.7% of GDP. As explained by the ECOFIN Council in February, Greece must now provide more details about the budgetary adjustments measures planned for 2011 and 2012 in order to meet the ambitious structural reform plans, added the spokesperson, noting that further details were needed about the extra measures for 2011 and 2012.
The issue will be discussed by the joint mission of experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) that will start working with the Greek government in Athens on Wednesday 21 April. The experts will be examining the conditions for potentially activating the aid measures promised by eurozone countries and the IMF, should Greece request such aid. The experts will spend three weeks examining the situation but the aid mechanism may be started up before they finish their work, if necessary.
The president of the Bundesbank, Axel Weber, is reported as saying that Greece might need some €80 billion in aid in total because the country's financial situation might be worse than many observers imagine. The aid mechanism agreed to in principle by eurozone countries would provide €30 billion in loans for the first year of a total of three years. In addition, there would be a number of IMF loans of up to €16 billion in the first year. (L.C./transl.fl)