Dijsselbloem: Greece expected to fulfill required measures for 2.0-billion tranche by Monday




BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA/ M. Aroni) Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Tuesday forecast that the Greek government will have adopted all required measures for the disbursement of a sub-tranche of 2.0 billion euros by next Monday, as well as the 10 billion euros from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) for bank recapitalization, addressing the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Committee.

“New payments for Greece will be released as soon as households’ insolvency issues are resolved; the decision is going to be taken next Monday,” said Dijsselbloem, who is also chair of the ESM board of governors.

“The Greek problem will stay with us for many more years but we can cope with that”, he added.

He noted that household insolvency issues and non-performing loans that threaten the Greek banking system were currently blocking new payments for Greece and noted that the institutions were currently waiting for Greece’s proposals, predicting that an agreement will be reached by Monday.

On the protection of homes from foreclosures, Dijsselbloem expressed hope that a balance can be struck between protecting households while also setting up a robust legal framework for insolvency in order to protect Greek banks from recurring non-performing loans and instability.

The talks were continuing at present, while both the European Commission and the Eurogroup agreed that households unable to meet the repayment of loans must be supported, he added.

Regarding the recapitalisation of Greece’s banks, Dijsselbloem said it was “good news” that this would require less cash than originally expected, adding that Greek banks will be able to cover a large part of their needs through private investments.

He said the aim was to make a decision for the disbursement of loans for recaplitalisation from the ESM early next week and complete the entire process in the weeks to come, though Greece must first have fulfilled all prior actions linked to the financial sector.

Klaus Regling, the ESM managing director was also present at the meeting.

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