Eurogroup: Greek Gov. agreed to a 4th ‘preventive’ Memo

Extra Eurogroup could be held during Orthodox Easter week for new measures package

President of the Eurgroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem announced that the the creditors have agreed with Greece for the adoption by the Greek government of a package of ‘preventive measures’ in the event fiscal targets diverge. The Eurogroup head said the cooperation was productive and strong at the meeting in Amsterdam, Friday. ‘We believe notable progress has been made’, he noted. He added that more work is needed for talks with the Greek government to fully conclude, but added that a deal is close. Dijsselbloem explained that the 3.6bln Euro ‘preventive measures’ package would be enacted if the targets were derailed by 2018. Thwe head of the 19 Eurogroup member-states said the Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos was committed to implementing the ‘emergency measures’, adding that if the package is detailed then a new Eurogroup meeting would be called on Thursday leading up to the Orthodox Easter. On the matter of a nominal haircut of the Greek debt, the Dutch Finance Minister ruled it out saying the EU lenders would examine a ‘reprofiling’ of the debt and try to levitate the burden by extending the time of repayment. Meanwhile, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis hailed the positive outcome of talks at the meeting in Amsterdam with a tweet posting ‘there has been good progress in the negotiations with Greece’. Commissioner on Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici said it was a ‘balanced deal, while IMF Director Christine Lagarde expressed her satisfaction over the strong support the idea of ‘preventive measures’ gained. She said the program must be founded on a reforms and debt sustainability.