Government sources in Brussels on Thursday expressed content over the meeting between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
According to the same sources, the issue of the Greek economy dominated the meeting. Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis also attended the meeting and briefed Merkel on the progress of the Greek economy.
In view of the last and possibly most important review of the Greek program, during which the issue of the debt sustainability will be raised, government sources estimated that it would begin in September and that Greece’s partners would have to acknowledge the huge progress the country has made. The same sources pointed out that Greece will soon have met the remaining prior prerequisites for the disbursement of the next tranche of 1 billion euros, noting that the most difficult one was the Public Power Corporation (PPC) issue.
Regarding the positions presented by the new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, government sources underlined that Greece was glad to hear about his calls for a 300 billion euro investment plan, as well as about the determination showed in dealing with the issue of immigration.
Samaras, following a personal invitation of the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, will visit Florence and will then return to Greece.