Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna welcomes the recent progress by Greece and its commitment towards the necessary reforms. “It is important to move ahead with the review and ensure that the agreed policy package is credible and economically adequate’’, said Minister Scicluna, following the extraordinary meeting of the Eurogroup in Brussels on Monday, the 9th of May.

PRESS RELEASE BY THE MINISTRY FOR FINANCE

The meeting of Eurozone Finance Ministers was called to seek an agreement between Greece and its creditors in order to unblock a new tranche of more than €5 billion in aid. Greece’s creditors are the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and the IMF.

“We tried to set political direction in order to achieve progress in the current weeks as there were no firm conclusion agreed today” Professor Edward Scicluna remarked. “It is unfortunate but debt relief remains the fly in the ointment between the European Institutions and the IMF, although each side is bending over backward to reach an agreement, an underlying rift remains. Malta retains its position that debt sustainability can be achieved by other measures than haircuts on the nominal debt.

For the meetings, the Minister for Finance was accompanied by Permanent Secretary Alfred Camilleri.

Monday 9th May 2016