Brussels, 09/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 9 July, at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers, the International Monetary Fund spelled out its commitment to membership of the troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF). In early June, the IMF published a controversial report highlighting mistakes in the first Greek bailout and criticising the eurozone (see EUROPE 10861).
IMF Director General Christine Lagarde explained that the “troika chemistry was something we had to invent as we had to face the crisis and put programmes and reviews in place. We had to constantly improve to be as productive as possible for the countries concerned. I completely share the view of my services on the way future programmes can be improved”.
On behalf of the European Commission, Olli Rehn agreed, saying that the troika had been a learning process, made more difficult by the fact that there were “three different institutions with different philosophies and rule books”, but it worked in practice, as was shown by the recent fact-finding mission in difficult circumstances in Athens. Rehn said it was “a storm in a teacup. It has been a learning process, we have to constantly learn lessons of the past. It is natural that there may be some tensions”. The Commission is planning to draw up its own assessment report following publication of the IMF report. Asked about this, Rehn's press office said there was nothing new in this connection. On the rumour about the IMF leaving the Greek programme, a rumour arising in part due to potential financing gap (see related article), Lagarde said: “We are partners in the programme, we are not stopping.” The criticisms in the IMF report, she explained, had been about the first Greek programme. (EL/transl.fl)