Brussels, 17/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 17 November, the President of the ECB, Mario Draghi, said that a further reduction of the burden of the Greek public debt would be “unnecessary”.
“This is not the right procedure”, he told a debate with the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament.
The day before, the Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, had called upon the Europeans to reward the success of the Greek programme by again reducing the burden of the country's public debt.
Over at the Eurogroup, it is felt that reducing the burden of the Greek debt was a commitment made by the eurozone to the extent that this appeared necessary, but the most recent forecasts tend to show that this will not be the case. Given expectations, another source explained, the eurozone could agree to make a gesture. However, there is a lot less leeway available: in theory, the only possible options would be to extend the maturities of the loans or to reduce the interest rate on bilateral loans.
“We are working intensively with the Greek authorities and the other international partners to conclude the review underway and to decide on the next steps for the Greek programme”, European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said on Monday. “Talks on the nature of possible measures in favour of the viability of the debt are one aspect of the follow-up arrangements”, he added.
The 'troika' (European Commission, ECB, IMF) has made its return to Greece to conclude the follow-up mission currently underway conditional upon further commitments to structural reforms. According to the latest information available, no date has so far been set for their return. The mission must be formally ended by the Eurogroup meeting of 8 December so that decisions on the next steps for the bailout plan can be made. (EL with MB)