Brussels, 28/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 27 January, eurozone finance ministers called on the Greek authorities to make an effort so that the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) can complete its fourth monitoring mission, which began in September but is currently on hold: “Greece must continue its successful trajectory”.
The eurozone will not release any more cash until the monitoring mission has reached a positive conclusion. “And on the basis of a positively concluded review and only on that basis we will then come to that once again in the Eurogroup meeting”, explained the head of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
“I am sorry to say the review is not yet concluded. Further work is needed” before the troika can return to Athens, stated Dijsselbloem. He said that the outstanding issues went beyond the budget gap as more remained to be sorted out. Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn said that progress had already been achieved on all fronts, but more still needed to be done. Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said that the Eurogroup was unlikely to give the go-ahead for a new aid instalment until March, although a decision was initially hoped for in February. The Greek media report that Stournaras had hinted that the primary budget surplus (not including debt servicing) would be around €830 million, which might be enough to fill the budget gap for 2014. Structural reforms would be required to fill the 2015 budget gap, he added.
French Economy Minister Pierre Moscovici said that “convergent effort” would be needed, while Austrian Finance Minister Michael Spindelegger commented that the Eurogroup had expressed concern regarding far-reaching reforms and the privatisation programme. (EL/transl.fl)