Brussels, 17/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - Eurozone finance ministers want Greece to speed up introduction of its austerity programme and to introduce new measures to ensure it meets its budget targets for 2011. Once the new measures have been decided upon and a privatisation programme is underway, then the ministers say the time may be ripe for considering a rescheduling of the country's loan repayments. Any such decision would be taken in June this year, once the outcome of the current fact-finding mission has been published.
The chair of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, said that the eurozone finance ministers had held a long discussion about the situation in Greece. He welcomed the Greek government's plan to announce additional measures shortly to respect the 2011 budget restrictions that have already been set. He said that if Greece sold off more state assets and undertook the planned structural reforms, the programme was “difficult but do-able”. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said that after its “unprecedented” tightening of public expenditure, Greece now needed to speed up the reform process and start the privatisation programme without further delay, urging the main political parties in the country to set aside their differences in order to get the country out of the doldrums. The French economics minister, Christine Lagarde, said that the ministers had seen how some parts of the austerity programme were progressing well, but others, like privatisation, were taking longer than expected.
Europe categorically rules out any idea of restructuring the Greek debt. Any restructuring that would lead to Greece defaulting, a “credit event”, said Lagarde is “not on the table”: Restructuring on such a scale is not an option, explained Juncker, but he hinted that a “reprofiling” of Greece's debt might be possible. It currently exceeds 157% of GNP, according to the European Commission's calculations. Juncker said it was austerity measures first and foremost and then, possibly, a reprofiling. Reprofiling national debt means increasing the length of time to pay back loans currently set at seven and a half years. Jean-Claude Juncker said the idea of providing further financial aid to Greece (later this year) would be discussed once the results of the European Commission/European Central Bank/International Monetary Fund fact-finding mission are known. Greek media say the country will need a further €60 billion to cover next year's financial obligations.
The Dutch finance minister, Jan Kees, suggested that the Greek privatisation programme should be run by a private company because disagreements have emerged within the Greek government about exactly which of the country's silver should be sold off. The Dutch idea is reported to have been backed by a number of other member states. (M.B./transl.fl)