EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker attempted to lower expectations on Friday of a successful conclusion to ongoing talks between eurozone partners and Greece, saying the Eurogroup is “far away from a deal”.
Whether a true depiction of reality or a bid to preemptively dress up any compromise on Monday, Juncker told France 24 that “small advances are being made”, while the tone of discussions had become more positive ahead of Eurogroup meetings next week.
“Now we are examining the divergences that exist between the Eurogroup’s opinion and the plans of the Greek government,” he said.
The French media outlet quotes the powerful Luxembourg politician as saying that the new Greek government can proceed with internal changes as long as they don’t mean more money coming out of euro area members’ state coffers.
“I would like to invite Greece to step away from taking unilateral measures. The measures, and all new measures, have to be taken in agreement with the Eurogroup. But as far as the final result is concerned, the amounts [of Greek repayments] have to be exactly the same.”