BRUSSELS (MNI) – The Eurogroup will not hold its customary
post-meeting press conference tonight, but it might announce its
approval of the widely anticipated E8 billion loan tranche for Greece.
“There will possibly be a press release tonight that will give the
green light to the E8 billion loan tranche for Greece,” an EU official
told Market News International.
A report on Greece by the European Commission and ECB, released
Thursday, will be discussed at the Eurogroup meeting today, and it seems
that the recommendation to “release the sixth tranche as soon as
possible,” along with the approval of the multi-year fiscal plan by the
Greek parliament yesterday, have convinced the Eurozone finance
ministers to approve disbursement of the E8 billion.
Earlier Friday, Guy Schuller, the spokesman for Eurogroup President
Jean-Claude Juncker, informed reporters that there will not be a press
conference after the end of the Eurozone finance ministers’ meeting
later this evening.
The decision to cancel the post-meeting press conference, which has
become a consistent feature of Eurogroup gatherings, will only emphasize
the continuing disagreements among Eurozone leaders over the way forward
in the Eurozone debt crisis.
As widely reported, the national political leaders of the euro area
countries are not close to reaching an agreement ahead of Sunday’s EU
and EMU summits, particularly on the issue of how best to bolster the
lending capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility.
A German government spokesman said earlier today that Sunday’s
summits were only for the purpose of “debating” the different options.
Another summit has been scheduled for next Wednesday, and it is now
being billed as the decisive one.
–Angelika Papamiltiadou; a_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com
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