The European Commission must secure debt relief terms by the end of the year, according to a letter from group of 36 MEPs (13.10). The MEPs, including Guillaume Balas, Sergio Cofferati, Fabio de Masi, Eva Joly, Curzio Maltese, Emmanuel Maurel, Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Georgi Pirinski and Ernest Urtasun, stress that “debt relief discussions, as part of the agreement, have to be opened as soon as possible, concluding by the end of the year with a clear road map for debt relief for Greece”.
“The open letter to Mr. Moscovici, an initiative of the Progressive Caucus, has met with widespread resonance, not just within the European Parliament but over a broad political and social spectrum. Other, similar initiatives will follow,” Greek MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis underlined. Papadimoulis noted that “relief of Greek debt and implementation of the Eurogroup’s decisions without delay…is the key not only for turning the Greek economy toward sustainable growth rates but also to a comprehensive handling of public debt as one of the major European issues.”
Reacting to the letter in an interview with AFP, Moscovici noted that the “the European Commission would play its role as “honest intermediary,” expressing confidence that it was possible to reach an overall agreement on reforms and on public debt relief for Greece by the end of the year.
ECB’s Benoit Coeure: There are serious concerns about the sustainability of the Greek debt
European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Benoit Coeure stressed on Wednesday (12.10), that the bank looks forward to a solution on Greece’s debt that will restore the country’s access to the markets. He noted that a discussion was ongoing in the Eurogroup on the short-term, medium-term and long-term measures needed to secure the sustainability of Greek debt. All stakeholders in the Greek adjustment programme realise that there are serious concerns about the sustainability of the Greek public debt; Coeure pointed out, noting that the ECB had supported a debt sustainability analysis that evidenced this conclusion.
FinMin pleased with Eurogroup’s decision; EU Commissioner: Greece is on the right track
Earlier this week Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said he is pleased with the result of Monday’s (10.10) Eurogroup, as he spoke to the press after the meeting in Luxembourg. “This was a very good Eurogroup for Greece. It was unanimously decided that Greece has completed the 15 milestones and that we can proceed to the 1.1 billion [euro] disbursement,” Tsakalotos said.
European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said (10.10) that the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) had decided to disburse 1.1 billion euros of loans to Greece, linked to the first review. He said the decision was based on the compliance report prepared by the European Commission and the other institutions, showing that Greece had completed all remaining milestones. “I am happy that we have reached this point and we must absolutely go on, as I said, to try to build a ‘success story’ with Greece now. Weareontherightpath,” the Commissioner added.
