A European Commission spokeswoman on Friday praised the approval by Greek lawmakers of a bailout memorandum agreement with institutional lenders.
Moreover, Annika Breidthardt estimated that an agreement is possible to be reached at the Eurogroup meeting on Friday.
Additionally, she stated that European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker spoke by phone with Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
Earlier, the Euobserver reported that the Eurogroup meeting could see German leadership push for tighter conditions and clash with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on debt relief.
Berlin has already voiced skepticism on the technical EU-Greece accord reached on Tuesday, and German FinMin Wolfgang Schaeuble is expected to push for new conditions at the Eurogroup.
A document from the German finance ministry leaked by Green MEP Sven Giegold indicates Schaeuble will say the memorandum of understanding (MoU), which outlines reforms to be implemented during the three-year bailout, does not meet all the conditions agreed at July’s euro summit.
“Large parts of the summit statement including the prior actions from the aide-memoire are included in the MoU. However, the implementation of many measures is foreseen not before October/ November, and some very important reforms will not be implemented yet and are not yet specified”, the leaked document notes.
According to the German ministry, the MoU is only “partially compliant” with the euro summit accord on issues like the reform strategy, fiscal targets, or public administration, and is “largely compliant” on labour market and pension reforms.
On public administration reform, Schaeuble’s ministry thinks the MoU is “repeating and weakening the summit language”.
Meanwhile, in an article appearing on Friday, Le Monde reports that the Greek Parliament vote prove tumultuous and incredibly long for the deputies, while remarking that the division within ruling SYRIZA means that the road to snap elections is wide open.
