The “ideal time frame” for the completion of Greece’s third program review would be by the end of the year, but this will depend on whether the Greek side implements the necessary measures, said European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis on Monday, while being interviewed by SKAI TV.
“As you know there are some 95 actions to be completed, and many of those actions concern implementation of the measures already legislated, and indeed the ideal time frame would be to finish the third review this year. But what will determine it really, is progress on the Greek side with implementation of necessary measures,” he said.
Asked whether it is possible for Greece to have a “clean” exit from its program next year, as Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos predicted after the last Eurogroup, Dombrovskis appeared cautious.
“I would say this discussion is a bit early, we still have the third review to go but first I would emphasize the preparation of next year’s budget ensuring that primary surplus reaches 3.5 percent of GDP,” he said.
When asked whether the institutions were wrong to raise taxation in the country as part of its reform program, the EC official said it was the government’s preference to choose these measures over others.
“We had quite extensive discussions with the Greek authorities for the composition of measures […] and it was actually preference of the government to emphasize quite substantially tax increases,” he said.
(Source: AMNA)
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
