Greece must rush to complete the fifth review in order to conclude negotiations and reach an agreement before it runs out of cash. That was the message sent to Athens after Monday’s Eurogroup.
Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsellbloem said, “There is no political background to start discussing what will happen in June before the completion of the review.”
The Greek debt issue was discussed for less than 20 minutes. After the session, Dijsellbloem said, “We didn’t have a detailed discussion on Greece. We had the assurance that the Greek government will meet its obligations, but as time is running out there will be pressure. Liquidity in Greece is not our problem, it is the government’s responsibility.”
Dijsellbloem said that Greece must come to a staff level agreement first and then start legislating reforms before the final 7.2 billion euro tranche is released. “The tranche may be given in parts after a gradual legislation of reforms agreed,” he added.
Regarding Greece’s hope that the European Central Bank will unlock liquidity after receiving a positive statement from the Eurogroup, Dijsellbloem said that such a statement cannot be made “because ECB is independent and we cannot issue statements that tell ECB what to do.”
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