Brussels, 20/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - Meeting on Thursday 21 January, the conference of the presidents of the political groups of the European Parliament will approve the creation of a working group, which will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the third bailout plan to Greece, financed by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
This group, which was set up following a request made by the Greek government in September of last year, and which is made up of 25 members of the committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON) plus representatives of the committees on 'Employment', 'Regional Policy, 'Budget' and 'Budget Control', will be chaired by the president of the ECON committee, the Italian Social Democrat Roberto Gualtieri. It will be authorised to organise exchanges of views with the European Commission and the ECB in the framework of public or confidential meetings. In December, Gualtieri suggested that quarterly dialogue meetings be held with the Greek government and the 'institutions' representing the creditors (Commission, ECB, IMF) before the conclusion of each of their monitoring missions to Athens (see EUROPE 11453). The working group will also be authorised to arrange assessment missions on the ground. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)