Greek Finance Minister Vanis Varoufakis has been told to stop wasting time in negotiating reforms with his country’s international creditors. That
Greek Finance Minister Vanis Varoufakis has been told to stop wasting time in negotiating reforms with his country’s international creditors.
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That was the message from his Dutch counterpart, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the informal body known as the Eurogroup that discusses economic policy in the single currency area.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem,
Eurogroup President, said: “We’ve lost over two weeks in which very little progress has been made, the real talks haven’t started yet, there have been no implementation, so we have to stop wasting time and really start the talks now seriously. That is my main message today.”
Athens is set to present an update list of planned reforms to tap further emergency financing.
Wolfgang Schäuble,
Germany’s finance minister, said: “The Greeks now have to implement what they have committed themselves to – and refrain from unilateral changes, without coordinating them with the troika.”
Euronews’ correspondent Efi Koutsokosta said: “Time is running out for Greece. The remaining 7,2 bn euros of bailout cash is not being unlocked.
“But the country faces huge liquidity problems after the recent decision of the European Central Bank not to accept low-rated Greek bonds as collateral.
“In this atmosphere Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker just before next week’s EU Summit.”