Brussels, 18/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 18 March, the Greek government announced the long-awaited agreement with the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) that will allow the conclusion of the fourth troika monitoring mission in the country and the next payment of aid from the eurozone's bailout system.
In Brussels, the Greek deputy prime minister, Evangelos Venizelos, said it was a historic agreement and was as important as the agreement finalising the adjustment programme. It took eight months for the parties to reach agreement on what Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras described as “the toughest review we've had so far”. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said that €500 million of the primary budget surplus (not including debt-servicing) would be redistributed this year to the most vulnerable strands of the Greek population. Greek media suggest the total budget surplus to be around the €2.9 billion mark, which Venizelos said would be Greece's main argument for the final stage of the programme during which the country will return to being a normal member state. The European Commission confirmed that agreement had been reached on the major issues. (EL and LC)