Brussels, 22/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, is not going to go back on the promise he made to the European Parliament a year ago, when sworn in as President of the European Commission, to carry out an impact assessment in advance of any economic adjustment programme.
“In the future, it will not be possible to have an adjustment programme without prior analysis of its social impact”, he stated on 15 July 2014. A year on, and with negotiations for a third programme for Greece about to get underway, Juncker met his Commissioner for Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen, on Wednesday morning on the sidelines of the meeting of the College. This question of a social impact “is an obligation which is part of the mission letter” which Thyssen received when Juncker appointed her to this position, Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas pointed out. Commissioner Thyssen will, furthermore, be involved, the Commission explained.
Pointing out that the Commission was not alone, but flanked by the ECB and the IMF, the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, said at a press conference on Wednesday 22 July that Jean-Claude Juncker's words from July 2014 made “ very good sense” and could be “claimed by Mr Juncker and the Commission behind him”.
Moscovici went on to explain that the negotiations for a third bailout plan had just started and “will lead us to the second fortnight of August”. Declining to be any more specific, he nonetheless explained that the start of the second fortnight of August was “a good window to aim for”. On 20 August, Greece has a further deadline to pay back around €3.2 billion to the ECB. The parties were already preparing for the eventuality of a further requirement for bridge financing in the event that negotiations have not concluded by then. The package voted on by Greece on 15 July is “substantial”, according to Pierre Moscovici, who observed that there is “a new dynamic underway”. If “this evening (of 22 July), Greece votes on the two subjects I referred to (a Civil Procedure Code and the legislative text transposing the 'BRRD': Ed), we will have made good progress”, Moscovici explained. He expressed his confidence that these measures would be adopted. Last week, many Syriza MPs voted against the agreement paving the way for the third bailout plan. “We could go to elections, whenever necessary”, a government spokesperson, Olga Gerovasili, announced on Greek radio.
The ECB was to discuss the disbursement of emergency liquidity to the Greek banks on Wednesday. Observers anticipated that the ceiling will be raised. The ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Tuesday increased Greece's rating by two notches, to CCC+, with a stable outlook. (Elodie Lamer)