Commissioner Moscovici said: “We need to show [the Greek people] that there is light at the end of the tunnel of austerity. Everyone has agreed on this fundamental principle”. Avgi highlights that Commissioner Moscovici said, that the Commission is ready to support Greece in order to find financing for the promotion of active employment policies. The IMF appeared more cautious, commenting that it is too early to say, that there will be a Staff Level Agreement with the institutions’ return to Athens.

According to Der Standard, Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said ahead of the meeting, that people acting as if the aid programmes were about to fail and the country once again faced insolvency was “slightly absurd”. French media write that Commissioner Moscovici welcomed the agreement, saying: “we have taken an important step towards the conclusion of the second review.”

Commission officials, the European Central Bank (ECB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), will arrive in Athens “in the very short-term”, said Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Unlike French Finance Minister Sapin, who described the deal as a political one, according to Les Echos, Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that there was no political agreement, “but there is a great trust in the institutions that upon their return, a staff level agreement will be reached” to be ratified at the next Eurogroup meeting. Mr Dijsselbloem also said there would be a change in the policy mix, moving away from austerity and putting more emphasis on deep reforms.

German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble assured after the meeting, that there was no new euro crisis, writes Die Presse. He also called for more European integration and collaboration, De Standaard notes. Phileleftheros considers that the Eurogroup reached an “intermediate solution”, as the terms of the agreement will be concluded after the institutions’ return to Athens and states, that it is not certain the problem has been solved. El País writes that Europe made clear, that it does not want any problem until the Dutch elections, or maybe even until the French ones, before adding that a final agreement on Greece’s financial situation is still far away.

A European official told Kathimerini that Athens is now able to legislate some development measures in advance, which will be implemented only if Greece exceeds the agreed fiscal targets. Ta Nea comments that the Greek negotiating team did not return from the Eurogroup empty-handed. On the contrary, it secured the institutions’ consent, that counterbalancing measure, to create conditions of fiscal balance, will be taken along with a heavy package of measures.

According to a European official, measures worth 2% of GDP are on the table and concern interventions in the social security sector and in taxation. In a positive tone, Ethnos highlights, that for the first time the agreement includes “antidotes” to austerity. Eleftheros Typos negatively comments, that the institutions return to Athens with a bill of €3.6 billion that the citizens will be called on to pay. The Guardian notes in the same manner that the announcement sparked anger in Greece, where the main opposition party accused the government of caving in while the economy was weak.

German media insist on the fact that although many are optimistic that the IMF will remain on board for the new aid programmes for Greece, the institution’s stance on the country’s situation remains a point of contention. In Handelsblatt, Jan Hildebrand questions how the new aid programme for Greece is supposed to fix the country’s problems. He claims that it is unclear how Greece will ever be able to function without aid from its European partners and he predicts, that Greece will be confronted with new reforms in the coming months. He affirms that the IMF will participate despite its misgivings about Europe’s optimism regarding Greece’s chances.

On NDR, Ralph Sina finds that Europe has become vulnerable to blackmail Greece, due to the pressure from populist forces, such as President Trump, the Brexiteers in the UK and Front National leader, Marine Le Pen. In an interview with Spiegel.de, Clemens Fuest, President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, says that the constant struggle over Greece’s finances only creates hatred between Europeans.

In Die Welt, Holger Zschäpitz argues that the endless debate on Greece is distracting from more fundamental issues in the eurozone. He cites a new study from the Centre for European Policy (CEP), which finds that Portugal, Cyprus, Italy and Portugal also have deteriorating credit ratings. Professor Paul De Grauwe writes in De Morgen that Europe and the IMF practically took over the economic government of Greece with their first plan, lending Greece the money to repay its debt to Europe. Furthermore, investment is non-existent in Greece due to the structural reforms imposed upon the country.

Hospodárske noviny quotes ESM President Klaus Regling as saying, that Greece may need to draw much less money from its third bailout than anticipated. In a same vein, Naftemporiki, Efimerida Ton Sintakton and Cypriot media report that the Greek public debt was reduced by €2 billion since yesterday, after the repayment of this amount to the ESM. Klaus Regling said that “the prompt payment shows Greece is a reliable contract partner. It is a sign that the restructuring of the Greek banking sector is progressing well”.

Finally, The New York Times International Edition writes, that with the Greek government pushing through more tax increases to comply with austerity requirements, more than 21,000 self-employed workers and small firms have shut down in the past two months. Most of these will keep working, but will now do so on the black market.

copyright:Europeanunion2017