Eurogroup president: Greece has made progress in program implementation

Regarding the first program review, Dijsselbloem said that the discussions are rather constructive and underlined that the main concern of the institutions is to ensure the quality of the reforms to be implemented.
He added that the first evaluation includes important reforms on the social security system and fiscal figures, the operation of the privatisations fund, the modernisation of public administration, the combating of tax evasion and others. He admitted that some reforms are politically and socially difficult, but stressed the importance of Greece meeting its commitments based on the 2015 agreement.
Regarding Greek banks, Dijsselbloem underlined that 5.4 billion euros was needed for their recapitalisation - much less than the amount initially estimated. "This is also good news for the sustainability of the debt," he added.