Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek 'haircut' is a matter of time, says head of German institute

[02] Tsakalotos: Nobody at the Eurogroup doubted that we have implemented what was agreed

[01] Greek 'haircut' is a matter of time, says head of German institute

"Greek debt is not sustainable and there will be a 'haircut', even if they don't name it as such. The issue is rather whether this 'haircut' will be decided in the next few months or later," Fratzscher said, adding that he is in favour of linking loan interest rates with the growth of the economy, in order to motivate the Greek government to make reforms.

He also said the danger for a Grexit has clearly been limited and it is very unlikely to happen because the vast majority in Europe – and increasingly in Germany - realizes that the euro is strength and an anchor of stability for Greece and not a weakness.

[02] Tsakalotos: Nobody at the Eurogroup doubted that we have implemented what was agreed

"There was nobody inside the Eurogroup who doubted for a moment that we have implemented what has been agreed," he said, adding that in the next few days the two sides will find a "reliable" solution to bridge the gap between the European institutions and the International monetary Fund (IMF) on achieving a primary surplus of 3.5 pct of GDP in 2018.

Concerning the package of reforms for the summer the minister said Eurogroup agreed that some technical details remain open which will be discussed in the next few days, but noted that the solution which will be found must take into account that Greek law doesn't allow legislating measures on conditionality.

"The validity of a law cannot depend on a future and uncertain event. That is, you cannot legislate 'x' if 'y' happens in 2018 or 2019," Tsakalotos said, adding that whichever solution is chosen to bridge the gap between the European institutions and the IMF, it will be discussed in parallel to the debt issue.

"It's important that the complete debt and reforms package gives a clear signal to Greeks and European citizens but also Greek and international investors that Greece has turned a page," he noted.

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