Brussels, 30/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 30 January, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said that the government would keep to its election promises and the troika (European Commission, European Central Banka and International Monetary Fund) would not return to Athens.
At a press conference with the head of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Varoufakis said that the Syriza party had won the elections by fighting its election campaign in the spirit of opposition to the structural adjustment programme, adding: “Our first action as a government will not be to reject the rationale of questioning this programme through a request to extend it.”
According to Skai television, Varoufakis told Dijsselbloem when the latter asked whether he was planning to request a new extension to the Greek bailout which Eurogroup has agreed to prolong until the end of February that the elections had sounded the programme's death knell.
Failing an agreement with the troika to conclude the final monitoring mission, Greece would have to do without an instalment of €7 billion of aid, €1.8 bn of it from the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) and some €3 billion in profits returned by the ECB from its SMP sovereign bond purchase programme. Varoufakis told the New York Times in an interview published on Thursday evening: “We don't want the 7 billion euros.” On Friday, the Greek economist explained: “We want to sit down and rethink the whole programme” with the European Commission, but not with the troika.
Dijsselbloem said that unilateral action was not the right way to advance and he called on the government to clarify its position. He said ignoring agreements was not the right path to take. Asked about the demand for a European debt conference, Dijsselbloem said that such a body already exists - Eurogroup.
The new Greek government promises a balanced budget but on Thursday, Dijsselbloem said: “In all honesty, if you sum up all their promises, then the Greek budget will very quickly be out of balance and then further debt relief won't help anyway.” The promises include a rise in the minimum wage, an end to privatisation and re-employing redundant civil servants.
The German finance minister commented: “We will not force our help on Athens,” but the programme could be extended if Greece carries out reforms. A German finance minister spokesman, Martin Jaeger, said: “Announcements so far from Athens appear to go in the other direction.”
Greek borrowing rates remained below the 10% level on Friday. Greece has a large bill to the ECB to pay in the summer, to the tune of €7 billion. (EL)