On Monday 8 July, at the Eurogroup meeting, euro area finance ministers expressed their hope for good collaboration with the new Greek government, while insisting that it should respect the commitments made in the context of the release of the latest financial assistance plan.
“We hope to have equally fruitful and effective collaboration with the new government as it prepares to meet this challenge”, said Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, after welcoming the work of the outgoing authorities. “We look forward to working constructively with the new government”, said Mário Centeno, President of the Eurogroup.
While a discussion was planned in the Eurogroup on the third enhanced surveillance report for Greece (see EUROPE 12269/2, 12290/14), the situation was somewhat unusual, since the day before, Alexis Tsipras' government had suffered a defeat in the parliamentary elections against Kuriakos Mitsotakis' right-wing party, which will now govern the country in the coming years.
No Greek Finance Minister was present at this meeting, but the question of the implementation of socio-economic reforms and the fiscal stance, as agreed at the end of the third and last rescue plan last August (see EUROPE 12077/1), was on everyone's lips. Athens must maintain a primary surplus (excluding debt service) of +3.5% of GDP until 2022 and +2.2% of GDP on average until 2060.
The Eurogroup does not intend to dictate what policies the new government should pursue. “It’s very normal that new governments have new priorities”, said Klaus Regling, Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). “But they [the new authorities] have to stick to the commitments”, he added. “Commitments are commitments”, said Centeno, who believes that credibility, investment and growth are at stake. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)