Luxembourg, 17/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 17 June, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) officially released a €10.3 billion aid package as part of the third Greek bailout, €7.5 billion of which will be paid to Athens at the beginning of next week.
“Today's decision to disburse €7.5 billion to Greece is a recognition of the Greek government's commitment to carry out essential reforms', said ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling, mentioning legislation to reform the pension and income tax systems and introduce an automatic fiscal adjustment mechanism to be triggered if fiscal targets are not met (a budget surplus not including debt servicing costs of 3.5% of GDP in 2018).
On Thursday, Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said payment of this batch of aid to Greece would give the country a burst of oxygen. He said that the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, would be in Greece next week and he himself would visit the country before the summer. Talking of a “difficult year” for his country, Greek Finance Minister Euclide Tsakalotos said that Greece had made progress in recapitalising the banking sector, concluding the first monitoring mission for the aid programme and winning “a little something on the debt” (see EUROPE 11557). He laid emphasis on the restoration of growth in Greece to be able to make progress on social justice.
IMF. After the Eurogroup meeting on Thursday, Christine Lagarde said that the IMF that she heads was not, at this point, a party to the third Greek bailout. A decision in this connection would depend on the outcome of a new analysis of the sustainability of the Greek debt (expected in the autumn) based on debt-easing measures agreed between Athens and its European creditors. What debt-easing are you talking about, asked Lagarde in response to a reporter's question. Cutting short any polemics, the head of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, reminded her that her staff had been present during the Greek debt negotiations in Brussels at the end of May, a matter that had been incorporated into the negotiations on the first monitoring mission precisely so that the IMF would participate in the Greek bailout.
ECB. Finalisation of the first monitoring mission for the third Greek bailout means that the ECB can now decide, possibly on Wednesday, to allow Greek banks to offer Greek bonds as guarantees for loans from the Frankfurt-based ECB. Introducing Greek bonds into the ECB's quantitative easing is more problematic, however, and will not take place until the autumn. (Original in French by Mathieu Bion)