Brussels, 09/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Upon their arrival at the Eurogroup meeting of 9 March, the finance ministers of the Eurozone expressed a certain irritation about the time wasted in the framework of the Greek bailout plan to conclude the final monitoring mission of the 'institutions' (Commission, ECB and IMF).
The work must resume quickly, said the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Two weeks have passed since the validation of the extension (until the end of June) of the framework agreement on financial assistance to Greece, but work is still at an embryonic stage. “We have lost over two weeks in which very little progress has been made. The real talks haven't started yet, there has been no implementation” of Greece's commitments, Dijsselbloem added. “The Greeks must implement what they have promised and, in particular, refrain from taking unilateral measures”, stressed the German minister, Wolfgang Schäuble.
For the Irish Minister, Michael Noonan, however, there are signs of progress, as technical discussions will take place with the Greek Deputy Prime Minister, Yannis Dragasakis. This step forward was confirmed by another diplomat. According to the Greek daily newspaper ProtoThema, however, Dragasakis has denied that he will be replacing the Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis.
Varoufakis arrived at the Eurogroup with a list of seven measures, which had been submitted to Dijsselbloem last week. “We are making progress”, said the Luxembourg minister, Pierre Gramegna, who said that the list consisted of just some of the measures to be applied and that “things have to be done in order”. “It is better to act fast than to talk a lot”, he said.
The Greek list is a “welcome contribution to the process” and can be “part of the discussions between the 'institutions' and the Greek government”, Dijsselbloem said. In Amsterdam the day before, however, he said that the list was “far from complete”. The Slovakian minister, Peter Kazimir, said that what was important was the “real figures, the real budgetary situation” of Greece.
As the Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, pointed out, the discussions at the Eurogroup must be of a political nature. A report on the state of Greek finances was to be presented to the ministers on Monday. “Everybody knows that it's getting urgent”, a diplomat summed up. The Greeks can hold out for another three weeks, Bloomberg estimates. Dijsselbloem said that the financing of Athens should be provided by the Greek government, but that the Eurozone stood ready to help on the basis of progress in the programme.
According to the same diplomat, a technical mission was to start this Monday, to last for “up to two weeks” to resume the monitoring mission and provide more details on the measures to be taken by the end of April. The same diplomat referred to ongoing dissonance between the communication of the Greek government in Athens and in Brussels. On Sunday, Varoufakis raised the spectre of a referendum or further elections in the event of a breakdown in negotiations, in an interview with Corriere della Sera. (Elodie Lamer)