On Thursday 27 April, the president of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, announced that the expert group chaired by Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell would present its independent evaluation in June of the eurozone bailout plans.
This report will feed into the reflection of eurozone finance ministers on how to improve the governance of the aid plans, Dijsselbloem told the European Parliament mini-plenary, which he attended in order to provide an update on the ongoing negotiations between Greece and its institutional creditors. In Dijsselbloem's view, the expertise built up as part of the bailout plans for Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Portugal should be "anchored" within the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and the permanent eurozone bailout fund should be at the centre of any future aid plan, he says.
These statements come at a time when the IMF's financial participation in the third Greek bailout plan is still not in the bag. The differences in opinion between the IMF and the EU are still large with regard to the forecast of Greek economic performance, in terms of the figures of the Greek primary budget surplus (excluding the debt service costs) for 2016 (+3.9% or +4.2% of GDP depending on methodology used) proving the European Commission right.
Dijsselbloem again regretted that his sexist and divisive words, which appeared in the German press, about the attitude of southern eurozone countries had upset the sensitivities of European citizens (see EUROPE 11764). In his view, with regard to the budgetary policy within the eurozone, "the principles of responsibility and solidarity must go hand in hand".
Apart from Nils Torvalds (ALDE, Sweden), who showed understanding towards Dijsselbloem's words, the very large majority of MEPs expressed their indignation. For Ska Keller (Greens/EFA, Germany), the Dutch finance minister has insulted half the population of the EU – that is, women. "It's not about being weak with the strong and strong with the weak", she said. Other MEPs, like Fabio de Masi (GUE/NGL, Germany) and Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA, Spain) advised Dijsselbloem to take the lead in resigning from his mandate, which runs until January 2018.
Goal of end of May for political agreement on Greek aid plan
Unsurprisingly, the president of the Eurogroup, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici and many MEPs would like Greece and its institutional creditors to manage to finalise the second monitoring mission of the third Greek bailout plan. Technical-level negotiations have resumed in Athens (see EUROPE 11773).
According to Dijsselbloem, the package of measures requested by Greece for 2019 and 2020 is not incompatible with the improvement of the social safety net, nor the respect of social rights. It will be "tax neutral" beyond the budgetary objectives set, Moscovici added. Dijsselbloem moreover thought that the Greek budgetary trajectory after 2018 could consist of a primary budgetary surplus of 3.5% for 10 years.
In order to finalise the second monitoring mission of the Greek aid plan, discussions should also be held on mid-term relief of the Greek debt, at the insistence of the IMF. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)