The eurogroup and the ECB expressed on Friday concern for the judgment against the head of the Greek statistical agency Elstat, Andreas Georgiou.
The president of the eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem said at a press conference that the feeling was shared by all euro area countries finance ministers.
ECB executive board member Benoit Coeuré said that the judgment question the independence of the Greek statistics.
”We call on the Greek authorities to do everything they can,” he said.
Ekonomikommissionär Pierre Moscovici warned Greece that the judgment could damage the country’s reputation and delay that the outside world brings back the confidence of the country.
Pierre Moscovici said that Greece will be removed from the EU black list for budgetsyndare (the procedure against excessive deficits ) in the next few weeks. The decision will be taken without debate at a ministerial meeting.
The eurogroup also discussed the planning of the third review of the Greek.. The plan is to finish it before the year’s end.
Benoit Coeure said that the situation in Greece improves. The ECB has reduced its liquidity by 500 million euros last week to 33.9 billion.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem reiterated that he intends to remain as chairman until January.
Benoit Coeure said that Jeroen Dijsselbloem has been an excellent president.
”And you know what you have, not what you can get,” he said.
The eurogroup also discussed how the euro area should build resilience to withstand future crises.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that it was important to prevent crises, absorbing them when they come and then quickly be able to recover.
To a large extent, it is about strengthening the euro area’s economies are wide, from taxes, to employment, further education, business climate and strong public finances.
Pierre Moscovici pleaded for that action at EU-level can help. It consists of a stabilisation fund as a buffer against crises and the creation of safe asset classes, such as eurobonds.
France’s structural reforms is not a condition for the EU to create common support, said Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
”It is important that all member states are making efforts with the reforms. We follow the French reforms with great interest,” he said.
Tradingportalen/Agency Directly.
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