MADRID (MNI) – European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner
Olli Rehn confirmed Friday that EU officials will participate Monday
with the ECB, IMF and Greek government officials in talks intended to
establish the precise terms for activating the contingency aid program
for Greece.
“Our mission will travel to Athens over the weekend so that they
will start working in Athens…as of Monday,” Rehn told reporters here
ahead of a two-day meeting of EU finance ministers and central bankers.
“It is a matter of preparing a joint program of conditionality” to be
attached to the aid.
Rehn declined to answer directly whether the Greece plan has
actually been activated.
Eurozone countries have pledged to loan Greece up to E30 billion in
the first year of the 3-year program. The IMF is expected to kick in an
additional E10 billion to E15 billion.
Greece’s Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou sent a letter
Thursday to Rehn, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet and IMF Managing
Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn requesting a meeting to discuss the
joint aid program. A senior Greek official said Greece wanted
“immediate” clarification on the details of the program but said the
letter itself did not constitute a formal request to activate the aid.
Jean Claude-Juncker, head of the Eurozone finance ministers’ group
(the Eurogroup), told reporters this morning that he saw no indication
Greece would formal request aid today.
Spain’s Finance Minister Elena Salgado, also attending the meeting
here, said no decisions on Greece would be taken today. She also said
she saw no risk of the crisis in Greece spreading to other EMU
countries. Her own country is considered one of the likely targets.
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