In a recent interview with the online edition of German magazine Der Spiegel, the head of the EU’s Task Force in Greece monitoring the bailout agreement there, Horst Reichenbach, said that the return of Greece to bond markets may be “a potential positive turning point,” but stressed that this positive attitude could change rapidly, with money being a key variable.
“The markets see that Greece supports the necessary reforms,” said the German supervisor, mentioning that “these results wouldn’t have been made possible if the Greek government didn’t endorse the Troika.”
“The Troika managed through the pressure put on the government to keep on track the reforms,” he added, while praising the Samaras government on the achievements of stabilizing public finances, drastically reducing labor costs and bringing competitiveness back to pre-euro levels.
At the same time, however, Reichenbach brings those who show excessive enthusiasm down to earth. “Money is a big unweighted factor. No one can say for sure whether Greece would currently be able to emerge back onto markets without the support of eurozone countries,” the German EU Task Force head said, underlining that the positive attitude could shift soon. “Let’s hope that Greece will continue its positive course in the coming two years, so as to get on a safe track.”
“We are still halfway,” Reichenbach mentioned, and added, “In respect to privatizations though, we are still at the beginning,” referring also to Greece’s continued requirement of Troika support.
The article doesn’t fail to mention that any approval of new austerity measures decreases the popularity of the government led by Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and even creates frictions within his party New Democracy, while underlining the increasing approval ratings for Greece’s main opposition party SYRIZA.
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