Brussels, 11/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Eurogroup meeting held during the late afternoon of Monday 11 May was expected to take a positive and encouraging stance towards Greece rather than to criticise the country over the lack of progress made in talks with the institutions (Commission, ECB and IMF) within the Brussels group.
According to Reuters, the expectation was therefore that the ministers would publish a positive declaration. Upon his arrival at the Eurogroup, the Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, went as far as to say that an agreement within the Brussels group could be reached in the next few days. “Our red lines are by necessity inflexible, but their red lines and ours are such that there is common ground”, Varoufakis explained.
For his part, the Vice-President of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, said that given the position of the authorities as regards to Greece's liquidity situation, an agreement as soon as possible would be desirable.
As the Slovakian minister, Peter Kazimir, pointed out, the main improvements have been seen in the atmosphere in which the talks have taken place. “There is no content quality improvement on the radar so far”, however, he added. Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, said that he expected the meeting to verify the intentions of Greece. “It will be for the Greek authorities to reassure the Eurogroup”, he said upon his arrival. On the evening of Friday 8 May, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, is reported to have said that the glass was “half full”.
“There is no result on the table today”, stressed Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem, adding that the ministers would be briefed on any progress made. Like most of his colleagues, he declined to be drawn on the possibility of a referendum in Greece. Only the German minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said that it could even be a helpful measure for the Greek population to decide “whether it is ready to accept what is necessary, or whether it wants something different”.
It is also worth noting that the Wall Street Journal reported earlier that day that the IMF was acting with the countries of southern Europe, with anticipatory measures to contain the spread of a Greek default, if it comes. There were a number of media reports that Greece had ordered the repayment of €750 million to the IMF, which is due this Tuesday. (Elodie Lamer)