Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] New 'policy mix' for Greece emphasising reforms over austerity, Dijsselbloem says

[02] Tzanakopoulos: Reforms agreed at Eurogroup will not contain a single euro of additional austerity

[03] IMF welcomes Greek concessions at Eurogroup, says more needed to bridge differences

[04] ND: Return of institutions tied to new concessions, painful measures

[05] Klaus Regling reappointed ESM chief by board of governors

[06] Athens metro, tram workers announce 24-hour strike on Thursday

[01] New 'policy mix' for Greece emphasising reforms over austerity, Dijsselbloem says

"There will be a change in the policy mix, if you will, moving away from austerity and putting more emphasis on deep reforms," he said in a joint press conference with European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici and re-elected Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Klaus Regling.

Speaking after an unusually short Eurogroup meeting on Greece, Dijsselbloem said the institutions will go back to Athens and work with Greek authorities on an additional package of structural reforms involving the tax system, pension system and labour market regulation. He further noted that such deep reforms had also been a key element for the IMF.

"We have to realise that there is no political agreement at this point, that would be too early. It's a very positive and good step that the institutions have enough confidence and a common agreement to go back to Athens," he added.

The Eurogroup's president warned, however, that a lot of work remains to be done and that such a combination of reforms would be difficult in any country. The institutions and the Greek government would do that work on the ground, in more technical detail, he said, returning to the Eurogroup if and when a staff-level agreement was reached.

"Then we will have a final political discussion on the later stages of the programme and how to move forward," he added, expressing satisfaction with the outcome of Monday's Eurogroup.

Regarding the element of time, Dijsselbloem clarified that there was no liquidity issue in the short run "but we all feel sense of urgency because of key issue of confidence."

"If we want economic growth in Greece to continue and to start picking up, confidence is a key factor. That confidence has been returning in the past year and needs to strengthen and we don't want to jeopardise that, so that will be a strong motivator to do the work as soon as possible," he said.

Moscovici: European Commission ready to support Greek efforts to boost employment

Welcoming the return of the institutions to Athens to resume work on concluding the second review, Moscovici said the Greek people need to see a "light at the end of the tunnel of austerity."

"The further fiscal measures for the period immediately following the programme will serve to reassure all partners of Greece's commitment to maintaining sound fiscal policy in the future," he said, while also pointing out that there was still "some hard work ahead".

"We still need to narrow our differences in terms of fiscal projections and we still need to agree on all details of the policy package to conclude the second review. But as I always have said, where there is a will there is a way and today we have seen clearly that the will is there," he noted.

He emphasised that the Commission was ready to support efforts to boost employment in Greece, in particular.

"In terms of labour market measures, we will work to swiftly finalise our common understanding. We also stand ready to support Greece in its efforts to roll out active labour market policies and to explore how best to provide the necessary financing for this and the Commission is clearly committed to help the Greek authorities in that direction," he said.

The Commissioner also highlighted the progress Greece has made in economic and budgetary terms, saying this was now recognised by all actors. Citing fiscal data and economic projections, he noted that Greece had surpassed both growth forecasts and programme targets, and that with returning confidence was projected to achieve 2.7 pct of GDP growth for this year and 3 pct next year. Projected data on budget execution also confirmed a continuation of these trends, he added.

"It is now evident that Greece has significantly overperformed its 2016 primary surplus target, it's likely to achieve a surplus of at least 2 pct of GDP compared to the programme target of 0.5 pct. If this is confirmed by Eurostat in April, this means that Greece's primary surplus has already surpassed ints 2017 target of 1.75 pct of GDP and is already well on the way to meet its 2018 global goal," Moscovici pointed out.

It was now imperative to nurture and strengthen this progress and accelerate along the path to an overall agreement in order to build on this positive dynamic, he concluded.

[02] Tzanakopoulos: Reforms agreed at Eurogroup will not contain a single euro of additional austerity

"All sides accept and recognize the exceptional performance of the Greek economy and this is the reason we managed to reach an agreement with structural reforms as its main outline, which will not have even one euro of budgetary impact – that is, not a single euro of additional austerity," the spokesman told Alpha TV station in an interview right after the completion of the Euogroup meeting in Brussels.

Tzanakopoulos said the technical teams and the government will discuss reforms on a number of issues "but any measure taken will be offset by another measure of a similar amount."

He also said that the government achieved a "decisive victory" against the demands of the International Monetary Fund for additional measures totaling 2 percent of the GDP.

"All those things we were discussing for about a year and a half for 4.5 billion euros of additional measures after 2019 are no longer in the agenda," he said.

Asked about the timeframe of these talks with the technical teams, the spokesman said he didn't want to set "false deadlines" but noted that the job of the teams will be brief and the two sides will achieve "very quickly" an agreement because nobody wants more delays.

[03] IMF welcomes Greek concessions at Eurogroup, says more needed to bridge differences

"We have agreed to send back the mission. More progress will be needed to bridge differences on other important issues and it is too early to speculate about the prospect of reaching staff-level agreement during this mission," the Fund said in a press release.

[04] ND: Return of institutions tied to new concessions, painful measures

"Once again, the government is attempting to fool the Greek people. Another date went by without a deal and with an indefinite time of completion. Everything is referred to the future," ND said.

The new deal will bring "higher primary surpluses for plenty of years, additional austerity measures in taxation and pension system which will be legislated immediately", even after the end of the program in 2019, the party continued.

"And of course, without any talks about the debt and quantitative easing," it added.

[05] Klaus Regling reappointed ESM chief by board of governors

"Klaus Regling developed the ESM into the credible backstop for sovereigns that safeguards financial stability in the euro area. Also, he established the ESM as a trusted issuer in the currency union. Under Klaus Regling's stewardship, the ESM has made the currency union more robust and resilient, making it a key factor in overcoming the euro crisis", said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Chairman of the ESM Board of Governors.

The board is composed of the 19 euro area finance ministers.

Regling was appointed as the ESM's first Managing Director in October 2012. He also serves as CEO of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the temporary rescue fund that he set up in 2010.

"I thank Jeroen Dijsselbloem and the ESM Board of Governors for their past support and their renewed trust. The ESM approach of granting rescue loans in exchange for economic reforms has helped four program countries to overcome their crises and regain investor confidence. This will also work for Greece if the agreed program reforms are implemented," said Regling.

[06] Athens metro, tram workers announce 24-hour strike on Thursday

According to fixed-rail transport unions, the change in the law will significantly reduce STASY's revenues and cause massive and irreparable harm by depriving it of legal income that undermines its public-sector nature.

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