Merkel: Calm and joint discussion

“In the spirit of mutual trust we are committed to speed up the implementation of the programme and the Greek government is expected to show full responsibility on reforms,” she said.

According to Merkel, the Greek government in the coming days will send a full list of detailed reform proposals while the Greek premier clarified that political discussions between the institutions will take place in Brussels.

“This is not the initial list, but a comprehensive reform list,” she noted and referred to the Greek prime minister’s pledge to send the reform list very soon. As far as the disbursal of the economic aid is concerned, Merkel made clear that this would be on the basis of the programme’s assessment and positive review.

On his part, French President Francois Hollande in the early hours of Friday, after the conclusion of the seven-part meeting on Greece, said that the Eurogroup decision of February 20 on Greece has been confirmed, which now is called to move as soon as possible to the implementation of the reforms it has pledged.

“We want Greece to remain in the eurozone and the Greek government wants the same,” he said and added that provided that the Greek side speeds up its pace, an extraordinary Eurogroup meeting will soon convene to decide upon the disbursal of the loans that the country is still to take.

Hollande also said that there was not any intense discussion during the meeting and that the Greek prime minister’s political will to keep the country in the eurozone is clear. Moreover, he said that reforms would be considered from a fiscal point of view and noted there was no time to lose on Greece.