Log in
A+ A A-

Schinas: Commission tried to share Greek program burdens fairly

The European Commission and its president Jean-Claude Juncker have always paid particular attention to the need to share the burden in the Greek programme fairly and equally, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said on Monday, when asked to comment on European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici's statement that the Greek program had been "a democratic scandal."

This push for fairness was the reason why the Juncker Commission had conducted a social impact assessment of the ESM programme before it was finalised in August 2015, Schinas said, and also why, with respect to labour market reforms, the Commission had pushed for a group of independent experts to make recommendations in the light of European and international best practices.
"Both European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Moscovici have appeared before the European Parliament on several occasions to keep the MEPs and the public informed about the Greek programme," said Schinas. In fact, he concluded, "the Juncker Commission has invested a lot of time, effort and resources to keep Greece in the eurozone and we are very happy that we succeeded."