Tsakalotos: There was an agreement on measures so as to complete program review

It’s a “great relief” to finally have this meeting on debt relief and talk about the specifics, he said

“This was a very good eurogroup for Greece, and I think a very good eurogroup for Europe”, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said in the press conference after the Eurogroup meeting that was held on Monday in Brussels.

He said that there was a “very interesting exchange of views” on the issue of Greek debt relief.

“Ministers didn’t agree on everything, but there was a commitment to tackle the issue” Tsakalots said and supported the ‘three-layer’ approach, to tackle Greek debt relief on a short, medium and long-term basis.

It’s a “great relief” to finally have this meeting on debt relief and talk about the specifics, to help Greece finally turn the corner.

“Our expectation is that by 24 May we’ll have an agreement on fine-tuning the contingency measures, and we may also have agreement on debt relief too” Tsakalotos said.

Tsakalotos outlined the new plan for contingency measures and said that “If Greece misses its targets, then a presidential decree would enforce ‘across the line’ cuts.

He concluded his press conference by saying he expects the IMF to come on board and support this deal and that all sides are confident that Greece can achieve its targets, meaning contingency measures may never be needed.