Luxembourg, 09/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 8 October, eurozone finance ministers welcomed the sacrifices being made by the Greek government and people since the start of the international aid programme in early 2010, but said that it was not enough. Eurogroup is making the disbursement of the next round of aid, more than €30 billion, conditional upon the introduction of a further 89 measures (reforming the labour market, privatisation, cutting red tape and tackling tax evasion) endorsed in March and the introduction of further reforms to the tune of €13.5 billion in 2013 and 2014 to make good the delays in correcting the country's debt problems. The Greek government has until the next European Summit, on 18 October, to demonstrate its willingness to meet its budget and macroeconomic commitments under the second bailout programme.
“Eurogroup calls on the 'troika' and Greece to finalise the negotiations and to agree on a complete set of credible measures to consolidate the fiscal gap in 2013 and 2014 as soon as possible. Eurogroup looks forward to the conclusion of a full agreement on conditionality measures also including a robust program of measures of structural reforms, privatisation & financial sector stabilisation. We also stressed that, before the next disbursement, Greece should clearly and credibly demonstrate its strong commitment to implement the program. The 89 prior actions agreed in March should be implemented before 18 of October at the latest. Other very significant prior actions are needed to put program back on track and should also be implemented before a political decision of principle of disbursement will be taken,” said the head of Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, on Monday 8 October as he left the Eurogroup meeting. He said the disbursement decision would be taken in the next few weeks.
Like for the other countries in receipt of financial aid, the IMF director said the talks were always tough, but there was “total coherence” between her own public statements and the attitude in Athens of IMF representatives on the troika (the troika being the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank). She said there had been progress on the ground, but more was needed. In the same vein, French economy minister Pierre Moscovici said Greece must keep its commitments and apply the priority measures, so that the eurozone could then keep its own commitments and demonstrate solidarity. (MB/transl.fl)