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Dijsselbloem: Greece Needs to Implement Reforms Immediately

Dijsselbloem_Varoufakis
Eurogroup
President Jeroen Dijsselbloem sent a message to the new Greek government stating that it should start implementing reforms before the completion of negotiations, so that the country will be able to disburse 7.2 billion euros in March.
“My message to the Greeks is: try to start the program even before the whole renegotiation is finished,” said the Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem in an interview with the Financial Times. “There are elements that you can start doing today. If you do that, then somewhere in March, maybe there can be a first disbursement. But that would require progress and not just intentions.”
Furthermore, he stressed that Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’ list is “nothing more than an indication of what the Greeks would start doing,” it is not a negotiated new program.
While Greece has been shut out of debt markets and its tax revenues keep on decreasing, the country is expected to run out of money by the end of March. Varoufakis is worried that Greece will not be able to pay the IMF installment which stands at 1.5 billion euros.
Varoufakis also appears worried for the major debt repayment that the government must make to ECB this summer.
“If we spent two months talking to each other and not doing anything, at the end of April there will be major problems,” said Dijsselbloem.
Finally, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also urged Athens to implement the reforms as soon as possible, especially if it was counting on future assistance.
FinMin: No tranche if we have to continue the memorandum
“The extraordinary contribution, if imposed, will concern those who did not pay any taxes although they were able to do so,” Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Monday told Parapolitika radio station.
Responding to Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Varoufakis noted that “We will not take the tranche if the price is the continuation of the memorandum. We could have gotten it; we could have signed the so-called Hardouvelis e-mail and received the money. However, this is not what the people voted for.”

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