Luxembourg, 14/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 13 October, the Eurogroup stressed that there is still a considerable amount of work to be done to bring the Greek economic adjustment programme “on track and to be able to successfully complete” the fifth review mission of the 'troika' (Commission, ECB, IMF) to Athens.
Once this mission is complete, the Eurogroup will kick off talks on cross-cutting issues, particularly what will happen when the Eurozone assistance plan comes to an end, which is theoretically scheduled for the end of this year.
It is too soon to be talking about any accompaniment to the outcome of the aid plan, explained the Eurogroup President, Jeroen Dijsselbloem (EUROPE 11175). He said that Greece had not officially announced how it plans to complete its programme. However, there is a “strong consensus” among the ministers on the fact that the exit would have to be “sustainable and credible”, he noted.
Greece hopes to kill two birds with one stone and leave the IMF programme at the same time as it leaves the Eurozone one, which would allow it to waive more than €10 billion in loans from the Washington-based institute. The vice-president of the Commission with responsibility for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Jyrki Katainen, said that despite “considerable improvements on many fronts”, the situation in Greece remained fragile, as shown by the movements in government bond yields.
Director General of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) Klaus Regling confirmed statements made last week by a senior official about the disbursement of the reserve of €11 billion still available to banks. Despite the fact that the banking sector health check carried out by the ECB and the European Banking Authority (EBA) showed no major requirements of the banking sector, the allocation of this envelope to another purpose, notably a budgetary purpose, would require the approval of the EFSF and some of the national parliaments (EUROPE 11174). This money could also be used to reduce Greece's debt. Regling also pointed out that although the results of the banking sector health check are to be announced on 26 October, the overview of the sector in Greece will not be ready by then, as the banks will have between six and nine months to recapitalise, firstly from the private sector. (EL)