On Monday 28 August, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said that debt relief for Greece was not currently a priority.
“That's currently not on the agenda at all”, he stated in an interview with the German daily newspaper Mannheimer Morgen. “The country doesn't need a debt cut now, but it must continually work on its competitiveness”, he added. Any measures to restructure the Greek debt at the end of the bailout plan will not be discussed in Germany before the general elections, scheduled for 24 September.
Readers may recall that at the Eurogroup meeting of mid-June (see EUROPE 11810), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed, in principle, to come on board the financial aid programme, subject to guarantees regarding the viability of the Greek debt. The payment by the Washington-based institute of an aid tranche of €1.6 billion (see EUROPE 11835) to the Greek authorities could therefore be conditional on measures to reduce the Greek debt.
The next Eurogroup meeting will take place in Tallinn on Friday 15 September, on the sidelines of the informal meeting of the European finance ministers. It will provide an opportunity to take stock of the situation in Greece following the European Stability Mechanism's payment of an initial sub-tranche of aid of €7.7 billion, marking the end of the second monitoring mission of the third Greek bailout plan. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)