New FinMin sees new dawning for Greece

Greece will have met all 12 prior actions demanded by the adjustment program before the August break, Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis said in Luxembourg on Friday, after chairing the last ECOFIN council under Greece's EU presidency.

"The government has every incentive to move fast and implement the reforms it has promised," he underlined. Regarding the start of negotiations on the sustainability of Greece's debt, Hardouvelis said there was no firm date and that these will start "when necessary". He stressed that there was the guarantee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the financing of the country, while European loans will depend on the completion of prior actions and reforms.

The minister repeated that the European elections were responsible for the delay in carrying out the prior actions foreseen under the Greek program, adding that the first six will be met before the end of June and the remaining six "will be fulfilled before the holidays in August".

He also stressed that Greece, after six difficult years of crisis and recession, was "coming into a new era, with a population that faces its problems and shows a willingness to solve them."
Noting that every Greek family was affected by the crisis and had to cope with problems like unemployment or the inability of employers to pay salaries, Hardouvelis said that Greeks now demanded a more balanced policy, in which the promises made were followed by the financial support these required.

Concerning his role as ECOFIN president for the last time before Greece passes the EU presidency baton to Italy, Hardouvelis welcomed the agreement: “Today’s agreement counters double non-taxation of corporate groups deriving from hybrid loan arrangements. This agreement allows for closing the ‘hybrid loan mismatch’ loopholes generating important losses of revenues in our countries. Thus, we are making a tangible step forward in the fight against tax fraud and tax avoidance, also in response to a request by the European Council in December 2013”.