Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-03-20

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] We had a calm and joint discussion, Chancellor Merkel says

[02] ND leader Samaras: We are running out of time and money

[03] Gov't spokesman expresses Greek side's content over summit's outcome

[01] We had a calm and joint discussion, Chancellor Merkel says

"In the spirit of mutual trust we are committed to speed up the implementation of the programme and the Greek government is expected to show full responsibility on reforms," she said.

According to Merkel, the Greek government in the coming days will send a full list of detailed reform proposals while the Greek premier clarified that political discussions between the institutions will take place in Brussels.

"This is not the initial list, but a comprehensive reform list," she noted and referred to the Greek prime minister's pledge to send the reform list very soon.

As far as the disbursal of the economic aid is concerned, Merkel made clear that this would be on the basis of the programme's assessment and positive review.

On his part, French President Francois Hollande in the early hours of Friday, after the conclusion of the seven-part meeting on Greece, said that the Eurogroup decision of February 20 on Greece has been confirmed, which now is called to move as soon as possible to the implementation of the reforms it has pledged.

"We want Greece to remain in the eurozone and the Greek government wants the same," he said and added that provided that the Greek side speeds up its pace, an extraordinary Eurogroup meeting will soon convene to decide upon the disbursal of the loans that the country is still to take.

Hollande also said that there was not any intense discussion during the meeting and that the Greek prime minister's political will to keep the country in the eurozone is clear. Moreover, he said that reforms would be considered from a fiscal point of view and noted there was no time to lose on Greece.

[02] ND leader Samaras: We are running out of time and money

"His evaluators will be the troika in Athens and the Eurogroup in Brussels. Meanwhile, we are running out of time and money is finishing together with the lies we were hearing until today," Samaras added.

[03] Gov't spokesman expresses Greek side's content over summit's outcome

"Yesterday we made an important step, a positive step and we, as a government, are glad over what happened last night at the EU summit and the so-called seven part meeting. Obviously, it is not the final step," he underlined.

Sakellaridis estimated that "Mr Varoufakis had sent a letter of reforms to the Eurogroup, and the specific reforms that the Greek government will now send will move precisely in this direction" adding that "they will focus on tax evasion and general tax issues as well as reforms that will have to do with the public administration, transparency, corruption, boosting the business climate, encouraging investments and the administration of justice."

He clarified, however, that "there will be no recessionary measure on this list of reforms" and categorically rejected the imposition of new taxes or VAT increase in certain categories, saying: "we do not move in this direction."

Basically, he said that "what the partners want from us is to present a concrete plan and timetable within a week and present it to our partners at the Eurogroup."

Asked when funding to Greece will be unlocked, Sakellaridis said: "What we discussed is that the submission of reforms with a clear and detailed manner to the Eurogroup when the date is set will substantially unblock the financing to the Greek economy."

He particularly referred to the role of technical staff in Athens that will be limited to fact-finding.

Finally, he referred to the amount on the humanitarian crisis in Greece to be announced by the president of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker possibly on Friday. "It is a significant amount that is not linked to the financing of the rest of the Greek economy, it is a separate package for which the European Commission and Juncker are committed that will finance actions and initiatives to address the humanitarian crisis," he noted.

He stated that it is Juncker's intention to make the announcement within the day and render it immediately applicable while noting that it is a matter of understanding the situation and the social consequences of this policy.

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