Wolfgang Schauble at EuroGroup: If conditions not met, members not elgibile to take part

Tallinn EuroGroup to discuss Greek matter

EU Finance Ministers and officials arrived at the EuroGroup meeting in Tallinn, Estonia.

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici sent a clear message that Greece had to implement all the reforms it agreed arriving at the EuroGroup meeting in Tallinn, Estonia on Friday morning. “We need to realise the implementation of the reforms and this is what I will table at the EuroGroup”, the Commissioner told reporters, while he expressed hope calm would prevail in Greece’s next steps, labeling Greece “a normal, attractive” country in the Eurozone.

On his part, EuroGroup Presdient Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the Ministers would be having a general discussion on the Greek matter, the third programme review, as the Troika’s reports were being expected. On the issue of talks on the future of the Eurozone, Mr. Dijsselbloem stressed that a dialogue on the deficiencies of the currency union had to take place first, before moving on to the institutional bodies.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble underlined the need for Eurozone member-states to uphold their commitments, giving Greece as an example. “With Greece, we have seen that joining the Eurozone can be problematic when the conditions are not met,” said Mr Schauble, making it clear that there was no point in discussing the past.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, who is also attending the meeting, will be facing a difficult time, as the issue of the Eldorado debacle will be raised during talk, as well as unilateral actions by the Greek government (on the legislative front) the institutions’ technical staff members have detected. Especially for the Eldorado matter, a top Eurozone official said Wednesday that it would be treated as case to be shunned. Meanwhile, according to reports, the matter of the legal prosecution of the former Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), Andreas Georgiou will also be discussed.