Good evening and welcome to this press conference. Today we welcomed Bruno Le Maire, the new Minister for the Economy of the French government. We all look forward to working together with him. We had to say goodbye to Michael Noonan, who has announced that he will step down from his post. He could still be with us for the June meeting but I didn't want to take the chances of missing his farewell, so we thanked him for all the work he has done for Ireland and for the eurozone.
I will only speak about Greece, because I think it is the only topic of interest to you tonight. We have made huge progress on the policy package on which so much work had been done in the last months and on which an agreement had been reached between Greece and the institutions. The Eurogroup, of course, welcomed that very much. We are also very positive on the work done in Greece to implement those agreed measures and reforms in prior actions. The Commissioner will say more about that, but a lot of work has already been done in Greece by the Greek government and they are committed to continue that work as soon as possible, so that we can work towards that next disbursement before the summer.
Having said that, on debt sustainability, we have always said that if there was an agreement on the second review - and I think we are close to formally closing the second review, with a positive outcome - if there is agreement on that, that would open up the debt discussion to see where we are in terms of debt sustainability. This afternoon and this evening we had a first in-depth discussion on the topic of debt sustainability, looking very carefully at needs, options, constraints. But at this point, we have not reached an overall agreement on that part of our discussion. In the coming weeks, we will continue our work on that. We will try to come to an definite conclusion in the next Eurogroup meeting which will be in 3 weeks time. We will use that time well to work hard with the institutions and all member states involved.
The Eurogroup today has made quite clear that it is ready and prepared to specify further what could be envisaged if needed, in terms of debt relief. Of course, there are two guiding principles for the Eurogroup: that it needs to be inside the package that we had already agreed on 16 May, and that the final decision on what is actually needed and will be put in place, in terms of debt relief, will be taken at the end of the programme.
The IMF today also made it clear that they welcomed very much the progress made. They are impressed by the reforms and the work done by the Greeks and they still stand ready to go to the board. But they will also wait for the final discussion that we hope to have in 3 weeks time, in the next Eurogroup, on the issue of debt.
So overall - positive developments from Greece, lots of work done tonight. I think we are very close to that agreement. But tonight, we were unable to close a possible gap between what could be done and what some of us had expected should or could be done. We need to close that by looking at the additional options or by adjusting our expectations. Both are possible, and perhaps both should be done. That I think will surely bring us to a more positive and definite conclusion at the next Eurogroup, in June.
Eurogroup, 22/05/2017
Greece
The Eurogroup welcomed the preliminary agreement reached between Greece and the institutions on a new set of policy reforms to support the country's economic recovery. The agreement is an important step towards the finalisation of the second review of Greece's macroeconomic adjustment programme.
The Eurogroup commended the progress achieved by Greece in already implementing a significant part of the agreed prior actions.
The reform measures, legislated by Greece, cover areas such as pensions, income tax, the labour market and the energy sector. They should support the growth-friendly rebalancing of the economy and make Greece's medium-term fiscal strategy more robust.
The Eurogroup invited the institutions together with Greece and third parties to support a holistic growth-enhancing strategy.
The Eurogroup held an in-depth discussion on the sustainability of Greece's public debt but did not reach an overall agreement. Work will continue in the coming weeks within the framework agreed in May 2016 with a view to reaching a definitive conclusion at the next Eurogroup meeting. This includes an ambitious and economically sound medium-term primary surplus path for Greece.
Economic situation in the euro area
The Eurogroup exchanged views on the economic situation and recent inflation developments in the euro area, following the Commission's presentation of its spring 2017 economic forecast, published on 11 May 2017.
Spain: 7th post-programme surveillance mission
The Eurogroup was briefly informed about the main findings of the 7th post-programme surveillance mission to Spain, carried out by the staff of the European Commission and the European Central Bank on 24-26 April.
The mission confirmed that there was no risk of non-repayment of the loans that Spain received in the context of its programme to recapitalise its banking sector in 2012-2014, supported by the European Stability Mechanism.
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