Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem “sounded alarm bells” on Thursday, a day before he arrives in Athens for talks with the new Greek government, charging that if leftist SYRIZA insists on its pre-election promises it will derail reforms and delay the economy’s recovery.
The Eurogroup’s head added that “it is too early to judge” what the Tsipras government will do.
“In all honesty, if all the promises made during the election campaign are carried out, the Greek national budget will be derailed very soon”, he said from Amsterdam.
The Dutch European leader stated that he is ready to listen to Athens’ proposals on alleviating debt, but added that “the most important thing for Greece is to keep to the agreements it has signed”.
If bigger state spending takes place it will turn the budgetary surplus to deficit, “debt relief will not help, he stated.
Greece is “nourishing the ambition” to stay within the Eurozone, and so do its partners, Dijsselbloem underlined.
Dijsselbloem is expected to meet new Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Friday. These talks may, or may not, signal the beginning of re-negotiations on bailout terms allocated by the troika to Greece.
