The heads of the quartet of lenders’ representatives are to return to Athens in order to start the evaluation of Greece’s bailout program next week, said Commissioner Pierre Moscovici in Brussels.
The commissioner on economic and financial affairs told reporters that the “evaluation will take time” and that difficult issues must be addressed, but the intention of the European Commission is to “continue the good cooperation with the Greek authorities that started in July in order to complete the assessment as soon as possible.”
“As you know, all of the technical groups, especially those who handle the difficult tax issues are already in Athens,” Moscovici said, noting that “progress has been achieved.” The quartet of creditors are the European Commission, European Central Bank, European Stability Mechanism and International Monetary Fund.
In the coming days, he said, the leaders will return to Athens to begin talks with the Greek government for all difficult issues. “This will take time but we intend to keep the original length of our programming. As you know, I met with Mr. Tsipras in Davos, we had a long discussion. I met with the head of our mission, Mr. Declan Costello, two days ago and gave him instructions. The evaluation will start early next week,” he added.
In a question connecting Greece’s bailout obligations and the refugee crisis, the commissioner clarified that Greece’s obligations with respect to the refugee issue and the evaluation of the program are not related to each other. “There is no relation to the evaluation of the program. These are two separate processes that are not related,” he said.
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