Alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Chouliarakis was revealing on Wednesday in referring to the Greek government's expectations over possible measures that creditors were willing to extend to bailout-dependent Greece over its debt, saying "no one expected debt relief at this phase".
Alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Chouliarakis was revealing on Wednesday in referring to the Greek government's expectations over possible measures that creditors were willing to extend to bailout-dependent Greece over its debt, saying "no one expected debt relief at this phase".
Achieving medium-term debt relief had risen to the top of the Tsipras government's agenda in the period before the June 15 Eurogroup meeting, along with rejoining the ECB's Quantitative Easing (QE) asset purchasing program, although few tangible results were posted in the end.
"We all knew that medium-term measures would be clarified at the end of the (bailout) program, in (August) 2018," Chouliarakis told participants at an Economic conference in Athens.
Moreover, he also contradicted several high-profile previous statements by top ministers in Athens over the same issue, saying there was little chance that the Eurogroup would unblock Greece's participation in the QE program, "this is a decision that only the ECB can make".
"QE is something we wanted, but it's not a cure-all for a return to the markets ... a return to the markets will depend on the performance of our reforms and the achievement of fiscal targets," he added.