German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said raising VAT in Greece was a foolish thing to do, according to reports. Schuable added, however, that there was no alternative solution due to negative public revenue of the Greek state. The German Finance Minister said no other European country had such a high tax rate and so low tax collection efficiency.

He stressed that this was why Greece needed an efficient public administration, while he added that recession was declining in Greece. On the matter of a possible Brexit, Schauble defended the EU governance model saying it was not obsolete.