“If Greece changes its policy, it must first discuss it with the European institutions. They have not yet relaxed 100 percent,” European Stability Mechanism Managing Director Klaus Regling said.
The EU official spoke to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and was asked about the Greek economy after the end of the bailout program. He appeared confident that Greece will implement the fiscal and cultural reforms agreed with creditors, despite the fact that the Greek government seems reluctant to slash pensions as of January 1st, 2019 as required by the program.
When asked if European institutions worry that Greece might not implement some of the reforms now that the bailout program is completed, the ESM chief replied: “No. They have promised these reforms. The Greek budget this year is somewhat better than we expected. The Greek government can use this. If it changes its policy, it must first discuss it with the European institutions. They have not yet relaxed 100 percent.”
In the question about “Why the Dutch want their money back (from Greece),” Regling replied: “The ESM wants its money back. As long as we get repaid, there is no cost to the Dutch taxpayer. Not a single cent of Dutch taxpayers’ money has been spent so far on Greek support packages.”
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