Declan Costello: A few more measures needed after summer

European official interview to state TV broadcaster ERT

European Commission Representative of the Troika Declan Costello said that Greece would need to legislate a few more measures during an interview to Greek state broadcaster ERT. He acknowledged that the country was on track, but clarified that some more fiscal measures were necessary, which effectively means that a new batch of tax collection measures. “After the summer we will return for the third review. It mainly concerns the implementation of the measures already adopted in the first and second review. There is very little that needs to be legislated. There is very little in terms of fiscal measures because Greece is “on track” to reach the budgetary targets”, he underlined. According to reports, the next review will focus on the public sector where a series reforms will have to be adopted through new measures that will affect the status of employes. As he explained measures aimed at reorganising the public sector will be at the core of the next review by the institutions. In his exclusive interview ERT Mr. Costello said Greece had made great efforts to implement the 140 prior actions in order form the second review to close, adding that the common goal was for the current programme to conclude by August 2018. The European official claimed the 2% primary surplus target of Greek GDP until 2060 was a realistic one. He praised the Greek government for its efforts to legislate and implement the prior actions, adding that they paved the way for the release of the 8.5bn euro-tranche within the next 2 to 3 weeks.