Prime minister Alexis Tsipras appeared hopeful for Greece’s future after a special meeting for Greece held in Brussels in the sidelines of an EU summit.
“I’m more optimistic after this deliberation. I think that all the sides confirmed their intention to try to do their best to overcome the difficulties of the Greek economy as soon as possible,” stated the Greek Prime Minister.
The meeting, which began after the official summit was over and lasted more than three hours, was attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, ECB President Mario Draghi, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. It was chaired by Council President Donald Tusk.
They all agreed that Greece needs to come up with reforms in the near future in order secure the additional bailout funds required to prevent bankruptcy.
German Chancellor Merkel said that “the Greek government will take full responsibility for the reforms and submit a list of these reforms… in the coming days,” adding that the meeting was “good and constructive.”
“We have to speed up the process. There is no time to lose,” said the French President referring to reforms the Greek government needs to implement.
President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker admitted that Greece is not only facing an economic crisis but a humanitarian one, and the EU will support the country to face it. No specifics were announced as to the amount of funds the commission will allocate as a humanitarian support to Greece.
Tusk and Juncker tabled a short, joint statement which read:
“We fully adhere to the agreement of the Eurogroup of 20 February 2015. In the spirit of mutual trust, we are all committed to speed up the work and conclude it as fast as possible. Within the framework of the Eurogroup agreement of 20 February 2015, the Greek authorities will have the ownership of the reforms and will present a full list of specific reforms in the next days. We reconfirmed the practical agreement on the process: The policy talks take place in Brussels. The fact-finding missions take place in Athens. The Eurogroup stands ready to reconvene as soon as possible.”
Read below the joint statement by the Presidents of the European Council, the Commission and the Eurogroup after participating at the special meeting for Greece.
“We fully adhere to the agreement of the Eurogroup of 20 February 2015.
In the spirit of mutual trust, we are all committed to speed up the work and conclude it as fast as possible.
Within the framework of the Eurogroup agreement of 20 February 2015, the Greek authorities will have the ownership of the reforms and will present a full list of specific reforms in the next days.
We reconfirmed the practical agreement on the process: The policy talks take place in Brussels. The fact-finding missions take place in Athens.
The Eurogroup stands ready to reconvene as soon as possible.”
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