Europe Pressures Greece on Pending Reforms

Germany and the rest of euro zone have begun to tighten the screws on the Greek government, urging it to implement reforms it promised to get its four-month extension on its bailout now. However in the meantime, Athens has only managed this weekend to alienate itself further from its neighbors.

The German government approved Greece’s bailout extension on Friday. But this does not mean that Greece is under any less pressure to overhaul its economy and the way it does business.

On Sunday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble urged the Greek government to use the time to implement its reform plans if it wanted to secure future help from abroad. Meanwhile, in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Jeroen Djisselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, warned Greece had to start adopting economic reforms demanded by its creditors if it was to receive a remaining tranche of aid from its bailout program.

Speaking to CNBC on Monday, Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna said that Greece had been given flexibility over reform measures and now needed to do its bit to stay within the bailout program.

“If the Greek government wants to do more social measures they can do that but they have to stay inside the program, so we have shown that we trust the government that they can do it and that they have room for manouver,” Gramegna said, speaking to CNBC on the sidelines of the Global Financial Markets Forum in Abu Dhabi.

via CNBC

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