Before the end of this week the German Bundestag will have to approve the extension of the assistance programme for Greece. Otherwise the bailout programme will expire at midnight on Saturday. The creditor institutions are currently examining whether or not Greece’s reform pledges are sufficient.
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On Friday the Eurogroup and the Greek government agreed that the programme should be extended for another four months, provided Greece meets a number of reform pledges. The extension thus depends on the "quality" of Greece’s reform pledges reported the Federal Finance Ministry on Monday.
"The aim of the extension is the bring the programme to a successful conclusion," said Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble after the Eurogroup’s meeting on Greece. The finance ministers met in Brussels on Friday for a special meeting.
The Eurogroup and Greece agreed on the next steps to be taken to provide further financial assistance to Athens. The ongoing programme is initially to be extended for another four months, until the end of June. A large number of details still have to be settled.
Any Greek request for an extension of the existing programme must be approved by the German Bundestag before Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble can give his approval within the Eurogroup.
Athens had applied for a six-month extension of the assistance programme. Before the special meeting of the Eurogroup on Friday, Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble stressed, "This is not about any one country. It is about finding solutions that do not destroy confidence in the continuation and reliability of this European unification process."
Chancellor Angela Merkel also stated, "Substantial improvements will have to be made to the application if it is to be approved by the German Bundestag." The details will be hammered out by the Eurogroup finance ministers, she said following talks with President François Hollande in Paris on Friday. The meeting marks the start of an intensive phase of work, said the Chancellor. The goal is for Greece to remain part of the euro zone.
The ongoing assistance programme for Greece will expire at the end of February. An application from the Greek government was initially submitted on Thursday to representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for review.
In an initial statement the Federal Finance Ministry rejected this application, which contained "no substantial proposal to resolve the crisis". Neither did it comply with the criteria for any extension of the programme, explained Federal Finance Ministry spokesperson, Martin Jäger. This is why a special meeting of the Eurogroup was convened.
After the meeting of the Eurogroup last Monday (16 February) Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem listed five conditions for an extension of the assistance programme:
Greece’s debts to EU partner states and institutions total about 220 billion euros.