An early morning agreement between Athens and its institutional creditors, announced just after sunrise on Tuesday, generated immediate reactions in Europe and as far away as Washington D.C., where an IMF spokesman said the deal settles at least one issue that prevented the Fund from rejoining the Greek bailout as a lender.
The same spokesman, nevertheless, emphasized that debt relief for Greece is still necessary, a standing demand by the Fund in order to render the country's external debt sustainable.
Earlier, EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici issued a statement circulated by the Commission, which read:
"The agreement reached overnight in Athens on the Greek Stability Support Programme is a very positive development following months of complex negotiations. These new efforts agreed by the Greek authorities open the way for a rapid conclusion of the second review. The swift implementation of these commitments should enable the Eurogroup to endorse this agreement at its next meeting. This second review is strategic for Greece as it not only delivers on key reforms to modernise the Greek economy but also secures a credible fiscal path for the years to come, beyond the ESM programme. It is now for all partners to reach an understanding on the question of Greece's debt in the coming weeks. It is time to turn the page on this long and difficult austerity chapter for the Greek people. With this agreement, we need now to write a new story of stability, jobs and growth for Greece and for the euro area as a whole."
Finally, Eurogroup chairman and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, one of the Greek program's "old hands", took to Twitter to post two "Tweets" over the Tuesday deal, which creditors described as "preliminary."
"Welcomes preliminary agreement between institutions & #Greece on a policy package ... This will now be complemented by discussions in the coming weeks on a credible strategy for ensuring that Greece's debt is sustainable ..." was Dijsselbloem's reaction.
