Upon completion of the Eurogroup in July the dose of 1 billion euro was approved and will be transferred to Greece over this week. Ministers of Finance, along with the director of the European Stability Mechanism Mr. Klaus Regklingk and the new President of Finance Committee Mr. Sim Kallas, have decided that the dose will be released after the satisfactory progress that was found by partners in the six prerequisites.

The successful completion of the prerequisites brings the progress of the fourth assessment by Troika which will be completed when the next package requirements are met. Troika will send a technical team to Athens in the couple of days, to continue the reform of the next prerequisites in order to complete the 4th assessment. Based on Government sources it has been estimated that the process will be completed before the end of the parliamentary process in August and this will pave the way for the 5th assessment to start, probably in September.

European credit to Hardouvelis

According to government sources, the Greek Minister of Finance Mr. Gikas Hardouvelis encountered a very positive climate on the Ministers consultations, unlike the Eurogroup inJune, where it was found against “strong fire” of their partners because of the removal of the Revenue General Secretary. The source of the positive change was the successful completion of the prerequisites and the minister received congratulations from his partners along with appeal to show the same zeal in the next, more difficult reforms.

The Greek Government also received positive feedback for the replacement of the Revenue General Secretary Mr. Theocharis, that was designated “meritocratic and transparent” and the new General Secretary Ms Katerina Savvaidis is expected soon to sign a contract. On the other hand, the president of the European Central Bank Mr. Mario Draghi, was in a criticism mood and according to him he saw “relaxation” of the implementation of necessary reforms in Greece and called for increased efforts by Greece for the fifth assessment and then to open the discussion on the sustainability of the Greek debt.