The Eurogroup, i.e. Eurozone member-states' finance ministers, has not taken any decision regarding a freezing of short-term debt relief measures for Greece, Greek FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos told reporters in Berlin on Thursday.
The Eurogroup, i.e. Eurozone member-states' finance ministers, has not taken any decision regarding a freezing of short-term debt relief measures for Greece, Greek FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos told reporters in Berlin on Thursday.
He was referring to a decision the previous day by the EFSF to "freeze" the measures, which were announced at a Dec. 5 Eurogroup meeting, in order for creditors to assess last week's announcement by the Tsipras government of an extraordinary 617-million-euro welfare payment to 1.6 million pensioners.
Athens was caught off-guard and annoyed by the EFSF announcement on Wednesday and the parallel statement by Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem's spokesman.
"I believe the issue regarding the disbursement of the lump sum support towards pensioners will be solved," he told reporters. "I do not consider that it is a major issue; we have bigger ones to resolve."
Dijsselbloem's spokesman referred to a "freeze" of the debt relief process until next month, so that the measure can be assessed by creditors.
Meanwhile, the German news agency MNI on Thursday quoted unnamed sources as saying that Eurozone finance ministers were not briefed over Dijsselbloem's position.