The Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Klaus Regling said Greece would have existed the economic crisis, if the “Grexit” scenario had not become a real threat in 2015.

Speaking at an event organised by the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize, at the City of Aachen on the occasion of the awarding of the 60th International Charlemagne Prize to Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, he welcomed the development strategy presented by Greece in the last Eurogroup, speaking of “impressive adjustment efforts” while stressing that if the latest report is positive, there will be a final disbursement from the ESM, and then decisions will be made on issues of possible further debt relief.

“If the government in Athens applies all the remaining reforms decisively, Greece can successfully emerge from the ESM program in August 2018,” he claimed during his speech and expressed confidence that Greece could also pay its maturities, provided the maturity times were sufficiently extended and the obligations did not exceed the 15-20% limit in relation to the country’s economic performance.

The head of the ESM said that the next few weeks and months would be a period of very intensive work, explaining that ESM experts would be returning with their colleagues from the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF in mid-May in Athens to work out a common final plan of action.