European finance ministers hailed Greece’s determination to cut the budget and reshape its recession-wracked economy, raising the chances that aid will keep flowing to stop the country from careening out of the euro.
European officials paired the encouragement with a demand that Greece commit to a list of 89 policy steps before an Oct. 18-19 leaders’ summit, and left open whether the next 31 billion-euro ($40 billion) loan installment would be paid out in one go or dribbled out in smaller pieces.
Creditors muffled doubts about Greece’s fiscal health hours before German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the dominant figure in Europe’s bailout politics, set off on her first trip to Athens since the crisis broke out in October 2009.
“I’m impressed by the performance of the Greek government, by the willingness of the coalition parties in Greece to undertake whatever will have to be undertaken in order to respond to our wishes,†Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in Luxembourg late yesterday after chairing a meeting of euro finance chiefs.
via Bloomberg
