Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem spoke after Monday morning’s agreement on a 86-billion-euro bailout for Greece.
Aside from finally reaching a deal with Greece, Dijsselbloem had another reason to be cheerful on Monday. During this Eurogroup he was reelected as Eurogroup President.
The Dutch Finance Minister said during a press conference that the matter of bridge financing to Greece was discussed during the meeting but noted it is a complex matter.
“We looked at a number of possibilities but there are technical, legal, financial and political issues to consider. So we have tasked a working group of technical experts to look into that. They have already started today and will continue their work tonight,” he said.
Following this assessment, a Euro Working Group (EWG) will examine it and a conference call among the Eurozone Finance Ministers should follow.
Dijsselbloem informed reporters that over the weekend, during the Eurogroup, there were deep discussions on the issue of trust, which Greece will have to regain.
“For me personally, the aim has always been to maintain, to keep Greece inside the Eurozone. But it had to be done in a credible way,” he said and added “It had to be credible for Greece. It also had to be credible for the Eurozone.”
Dijsselbloem also reiterated that the Greek Parliament will have to legislate the whole package, as well as the additional measures agreed, by Wednesday at the latest. This will be followed by a Eurogroup phone conference and a vote on the deal in the Eurozone countries’ parliaments. The Eurogoup could then give the green light to the institutions in order to design the basis of a European Stability Mechanism (ESM) program.
“Of course it is a completely different situation as to what we were talking about before the old talks were broken off and a referendum was started. We were then talking about the short-term extension of the second program. Now we are talking about designing a completely new program for three years. It will involve a lot more in terms of substance, commitments and financing needs and it will take time to negotiate that,” he said and added that this process would probably take around four weeks.
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