Brussels, 05/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 5 September, the head of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, refused to go into details about any extra aid from the eurozone that might be needed by Greece next year.
Addressing the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee, Dijsselbloem said it was too soon to talk about the characteristics or criteria for any new programme. Correcting an MEP's vocabulary during the debate, he said he had not spoken in Athens about a “new loan”, but instead had talked about aid. The Eurogroup head said, however, that it was realistic to consider that Greece would need additional support beyond the current programme, because despite recent progress, not all of its problems would be solved in 2014. He mentioned Eurogroup's commitment to provide the country with the support its needs until it makes a full return to the financial markets. He parried questions about reducing the Greek debt burden in the same manner, saying decisions would be made in April 2014, once the country's budget performance was known. In line with agreements reached in November 2012, any debt reduction could only take the form of reduction in interest rates and the co-financing rates for the Structural Funds, he explained, adding that Greece still had work to do on reforming its tax office and civil service. Dijsselbloem said the privatisation programme was not progressing as fast as he had hoped, but it was needed for the programme's financial sustainability. He commented that it might prove necessary economically to make do with restructuring state companies, but that would not help the programme.
Commenting on Ireland, Dijsselbloem said that the eurozone was ready to help Dublin exit from the aid programme to ensure it was a definite exit. In this connection, the Commission said on Thursday that talks on action to be taken to help the country in its exit would take place in the autumn.
Dijsselbloem said that the calm that was setting in the eurozone was fragile and implementation of Banking Union and country-specific recommendations was crucial. In response to an MEP expressing concern about economic growth without new jobs, he said that the tangible impact on unemployment could lag beyond economic recovery. In this connection, restoring lending to companies is important and for this, he said, a healthy bank system was required. To this end, he recommended involving the private sector in the bank stress tests alongside the European Central Bank and European Banking Authority. (EL/transl.fl)