Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-05-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] Djisselbloem: Greece has done a lot of work, pushing forward reforms

[02] Moscovici: Eurogroup wants 'global deal' accepted by all institutions

[01] Djisselbloem: Greece has done a lot of work, pushing forward reforms

"I think that the Greek government has done a lot of work, certainly since the summer and in the last couple of weeks, pushing forward reforms, difficult measures, and getting them through Parliament. So I hope that there is a full agreement between the institutions and that we can move on in the programme," he said.

Replying to questions, Dijsselbloem ruled out a "haircut" of Greek loans, noting that there is no support for that in the Eurogroup. "What we can look at is the annual debt burden: Can Greece on an annual basis, pay its debts? If not, we are ready to help them in the coming years and to take away some of those problems," he said.

Despite an apparent lack of agreement with the IMF on this issue, Dijsselbloem replied that "the purpose of today's meeting is to get that agreement" and ruling out the prospect of continuing without it.

"I think that will be very difficult and many countries in the Eurogroup have always expressed that they will like the IMF on board. The IMF is very experienced in running programmes, the IMF is very precise in assessing the situation in Greece and whether Greece sticks to its commitments, so there is a real added value to have the IMF on board. It's not an option to go on without the IMF," he said.

The Eurogroup president acknowledged the validity of the IMF's concerns on debt, adding that this would be another of the issues discussed at Tuesday's Eurogroup.

"I think there is a reason to look at debt relief, because the debt is very high and there will be some problems in the future. I think the debt analysis shows that. How big these problems are, how we can deal with them and when we can deal with them? That's today's topic," he said.

[02] Moscovici: Eurogroup wants 'global deal' accepted by all institutions

"We want an agreement as global as possible, involving all the institutions, to demonstrate that everyone made an effort," the Commissioner said and noted the reform efforts undertaken by the Greek government, particularly after the approval of the prior actions by the parliament which include the contingency mechanism.

All these elements should open the way for the disbursement of the next loan installment.

Concerning debt talks, Moscovici said the Commission is ready to support them technically and politically, adding there are "red lines", such as a nominal haircut.

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