Brussels (AFP) – The finance ministers of the euro area have given the green light to the continuation of the assistance program to Greece on the basis of a reform plan proposed by Athens, announced Tuesday the Commissioner European Valdis Dombrovskis.
“The list of reforms Greece is deemed complete enough to be a valid starting point”, said Vice-President of the Commission in charge of the Euro in Following a telephone conference of 19 ministers in the area.
“continued the Greek program” can thus “begin,” he said via Twitter. The extension of the program for a period of four months, only binding upon the individual agreement of 19 governments of the euro zone. In Germany, this agreement can not be given without a vote of the Bundestag, scheduled for Friday morning.
This green light “does not mean we agree with these reforms. We agree with approach, “said the Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici, right after the meeting, in front of some journalists. “We have avoided a crisis, but there are still many challenges ahead of us,” he said.
Concerns have also been issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regrets the absence to “clear assurance” from Athens ensuring that it will well implement the reforms presented.
“We call on the Greek authorities to further develop and expand the list of reforms (… ) in close coordination with the institutions to reach a rapid and successful conclusion “, for his part said the Eurogroup in a statement.
The presentation of this list, sent late Monday night in Athens creditors (EU, ECB and IMF) was the first of the conditions set by the eurozone to the four-month extension of the financial assistance plan enjoyed by Greece since 2012 and comes to an end Saturday.
After several tense meetings with its partners in the eurozone, Athens was resigned to request this extension last week, under penalty of exposing the country to financial asphyxiation.
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