The euro area will take any decisions on Greece’s debt in the second half of 2014, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday during a hearing of the Europarliament Economic Affairs Committee.
“There may still be way ahead but there are also results,” he said referring to Greece. He did not elaborate though on the type and the amount of a possible new support package to Greece. He said “some optimistic voices” in Athens expect that Greece would not need a new programme and that this would be desirable.
He acknowledged Greece had apparently achieved a significant primary surplus which would officially be rubber stamped by Brussels at the end of April.
Regarding the sustainability of the Greek debt, he said that eurozone member states and the IMF in December of 2012 agreed that under the current programme and regardless of any short-term variations it would be possible to reduce it to around 120 percent of GDP in 2022.
He mentioned that any decisions on whether the situation had changed would be taken in the second half of 2014. He noted that Greece’s partners had pledged they would consider measures for the further reduction of the Greek debt in case the achievement of the primary balance was ratified in April.
Regarding the troika’s arrival in Athens next Sunday, he expressed the hope that an agreement would be reached as soon as possible so that the Eurogroup meeting in March could approve the disbursal of the next tranche.
(source: ana-mpa)
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
