Dijsselbloem-Rehn: The agreement for Greece will come in January

Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Commissioner for economic affairs Olli Rehn sent a message to Greece that the agreement for the release of the next tranche may not be achieved before January.

 

Even though he admitted that there is progress in Greece, Dijsselbloem hastened to add that the work is not completed and repeated that the tranche of 1 billion will be released once all prerequisites have been met.

 

He clarified, however, that the Troika informed the Finance Ministers that tomorrow, Tuesday, it will return to Greece, and considered that "it is difficult to complete the evaluation until the end of the year." Regarding the outstanding prerequisites he said the only one left is the issue of defence industries.

 

Olli Rehn said "you should expect the return of auditors in January to complete the assessment as soon as possible" and continued by saying that "we will do everything possible to close as many issues as we can before the end of 2013."

 

Stournaras: Greece has done a lot

 

"Greece has done a lot and we look forward to the completion of the evaluation," Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said approaching the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels.

 

He added that he expects a constructive debate on Greece as well as for the issue of the banking consolidation.

 

The climate for Greece at today’s meeting of finance ministers of the 17 member-states of the Eurozone is expected to be "heavy" since it has not yet met all the prerequisites for the disbursement of the 1 billion tranche, pending since July.

 

Meanwhile, Troika with its retractions and before deciding to return to Athens, has further exacerbated the negative climate.

 

In this perspective, the stance of Stournaras’ colleagues at the Eurogroup meeting is expected with great interest.

 

Schaeuble: Greece is on the right track

 

"We know that Greece has come a long way. It passed the budget. There are open issues with the Troika but the last 15 months have proceeded further than we thought to the issue of deficits," Wolfgang Schaeuble said entering the meeting.

 

He added that "I believe all the problems are manageable and there are many to make us hope that efforts will be made to resolve these problems to avoid having to start the Greek presidency in January with a visit of the Troika."

 

Referring to the banking union, Schaeuble stressed that it may take more meetings to agree on a uniform mechanism of bank liquidations.

 

Dijsselbloem: I hope there has been enough progress in Greece

 

"I hope there has been enough progress in Greece,» Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said before the meeting adding he would want the Troika review be completed before the end of the year.

 

Commenting on the progress of the Greek program Dijsselbloem said that there has been some progress, but expects to be informed by the Troika representatives.

 

Asked about Greece’s efforts to return to the markets, he said the ambition of a country under a Memorandum to come into the markets as soon as possible is a healthy attitude but added that there is still a lot of work to be made.