The SME Chamber organises an informative webinar on the new Skills Pass system
11 April 2024
This morning the Malta Chamber of SMEs organised a webinar for its members in collaboration...
Greece could get approval for bail-out next week
17 February 2012
Eurogroup president says he has received "strong assurances" on implementation of austerity package. Greece should win approval for its €130 billion international bail-out on Monday (20 February), the head of the group of eurozone finance ministers said tonight.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, who chairs the group, said that a conference call involving the 17 ministers had been a success and had recognised that "substantial progress" had been made by Greek authorities in meeting the conditions laid down.
In a short statement following the phone call, Juncker said that the group had received "strong assurances" from leaders of the main Greek political parties that after parliamentary elections in April they would abide by the austerity measures which are a condition of the bail-out. The ‘troika' officials from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund had presented to the ministers its analysis on the sustainability of Greek debt.
He said: "Further technical work between Greece and the troika has led to the identification of the required additional consolidation measures of €325 million and the establishment of a detailed list of prior actions together with a timeline for their implementation.
"Further considerations are necessary regarding the specific mechanisms to strengthen the surveillance of programme implementation and to ensure that priority is given to debt servicing."
He said he was "confident" that ministers would be able to take "necessary decisions" at their scheduled meeting on Monday.
