The European
Commission says the controversial EU-IMF troika supervising Greek finances
could be replaced. The troika is a group of auditors representing the
Commission, the European Central Bank and IMF.
Greece's new left-wing
government does not accept the troika's agenda. Instead it aims to renegotiate
the bailout, to get a huge reduction in Greece's debt. At a news conference on
Monday, the Commission chief spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, quoted a pledge by
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to replace the troika.
"In the future,
we should be able to replace the 'troika' with a more democratically legitimate
and more accountable structure, based around European institutions with
enhanced parliamentary control both at European and at national level," Mr
Juncker said in his mission statement last year.
Mr Schinas did not
expand on Mr Junker’s proposal, stressing that "first we need clear
understanding" of the Greek position.
Mountain of debt
Greek Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras will hold talks with Mr Juncker in Brussels on Wednesday. Mr
Tsipras, leader of the radical left Syriza party, won the Greek election on 25
January on a platform rejecting the troika and vowing to pull Greece out of the
austerity imposed by international lenders.
Syriza says the EU-IMF
bailout conditions have impoverished Greece, fuelling unemployment and failing
to reduce the massive debt pile.
Greece still has a
debt of €315bn (£237bn; $357bn) - about 175% of gross domestic product -
despite some creditors writing down debts in a renegotiation in 2012.
Mr Schinas called the
existing bailout deal for Greece a "contract" and stressed that any
revision of its terms would require "the unanimous agreement of all 19
members of the eurozone".
Greece's current
programme of loans ends on 28 February. There is no agreement yet on
disbursement of the final bailout tranche of €7.2bn - and Greek Finance
Minister Yanis Varoufakis has said Athens does not want it.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου