BRUSSELS (MNI) – There is no doubt that the critical mass of funds
to support debt-ridden Greece will be in place by mid-May – when Greece
needs it – despite concerns to the contrary, a European Commission
spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“We will be ready to meet the needs of Greece in terms of
refinancing, it’s there,” Commission Spokesman for Economic and
Monetary Affairs, Amadeu Tardio told reporters.

“We will no doubt have the critical mass, in terms of provisional
funds, by mid-May,” he added.

Concerns rose about national approvals of a E110 billion loan
package for Greece from the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund
on Tuesday, after Slovakia’s government reportedly said it will wait
until Greece cuts its budget deficit before it pays its share of the
bilateral loans.

“Clearly national procedures have different time lines,” Tardio
said. “All members are committed to use fast track procedures,” he said.

“On Sunday there was a statement by the Eurogroup subscribed to by
all the ministers of the Eurogroup, including the name of the minister
whose name has been mentioned here,” he said, referring to the Slovakian
minister.

“It was one statement,” he said, to which all the finance ministers
subscribed.

“We trust that we will have the disbursement by all the member
states of the Euro area, as the ministers told us in the meeting last
Sunday,” he said.

The spokesman stressed that national procedures are to be fully
respected by the European institutions.

“They are national debates, from which we, the Commission will stay
clear,” he said.

Asked if a similar mechanism to the one used by Greece could also
be used to help Spain, Tardio said:

“The mechanism that we’ve set up is a specific mechanism for Greece
and applies only for Greece.”

He said the Commission wanted to draw the lessons from the Greek
crisis and was pushing for the set-up of a crisis resolution fund.

“One of the strands of this idea, this thinking, is the idea for
having a crisis resolution mechanism, the idea being, of course, to
never reach this situation again,” Tardio said.

“I have nothing to add on Spain, you know what our analysis is on
Spain,” he said.

The Commission Wednesday will publish updated economic forecasts –
including debt and deficit forecasts – for the European Union on
Wednesday.

–Brussels: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665; email: echarlton@marketnews.com

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