The head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Klaus Regling stated clearly in an interview to Greek newspaper Ta Nea that organisation was in complete agreement with the European Commission on the issue of the controversy that had emerged regarding the Andreas Georgiou and ELSTAT. Regling pointed out that the statistics of ELSTAT on the Greek economy during the tenure of Andreas Georgiou, who is facing charges by the Greek courts of falsifying figures, had been ratified by Eurostat and were the basis of the Greek fiscal adjustment program. ‘There is no room for a reduction of the set 3.5% primary GDP surplus after 2018’, he said. The Greek government will be entering in a new round of talks with its creditors on September 12 on the progress of the 3rd bailout program. The ESM holds half of the Greek public debt and Regling estimates that no new program would be necessary after the completion of the current one, provided the Greek government implements the agreed reforms emanating from the running program. He underlined that a possible alleviation of the Greek public debt depended on the Greek government’s commitment to see through the mid-term 3.5 primary surplus target for the GDP. Meanwhile, the IMF said it would not stay on board the Greek program if a debt restructuring was not achieved. IMF Director Christine Lagarde said the fund would only continue to back the program under the conditions that substantial reforms were implemented in the Greek economy and the country’s debt had to be sustainable, something that was not the case at the moment, as she underlined.