In an interview with MEGA TV late on Monday, Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis expressed his certainty that the Greek government’s negotiations with the country’s lenders will be successful and also his hope that an agreement on the memorandum and the debt will be struck before the Presidential elections, adding, however, that this does not depend exclusively on Greece.

Mr. Hardouvelis underlined that there will be an adjustment period, possibly six months to a year, until the country exits the memorandum, as was the case in Portugal.

The Finance Minister added that during that period the surveillance by the lenders won’t be strict.

Noting that the ‘exit from the memorandum’ was still the government’s policy, Mr. Hardouvelis stressed that the country’s relation with the lenders would take a new form.

“Things will be different,” he said and added: “There will be no micromanagement. We will be free to decide for ourselves which policies we want to implement.”