Greece calls on the EU to extend loan agreement – The Economist

Greece calls on the EU to extend loan agreement – The Economist

The Greek government formally asked the European Union to extend the current loan agreement for the financing of the country’s short-term and gain time to present a new reform program.

The Greek government on Thursday formally asked the European Union to extend the current loan agreement for the financing of the country’s short-term and gain time to introduce a new program of reforms, a government source said.

“The request has been sent” to Brussels, this source said, without specifying the exact content of the request that European partners will study this Thursday afternoon.

Athens and I had announced that I would request a loan extension for a period of six months.

In Brussels, the Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem confirmed receiving a letter from the Greek authorities requesting “an extension of six months’ agreement but also elaborate on its contents.

A meeting of finance ministers from the eurozone (Eurogroup) will be held on Friday afternoon in Brussels to decide on the request of Greece, he said Thursday in Brussels an official source.

According to the Greek government, the proposal does not include the latest austerity measures “memorandum” (program support) ending in February and Athens refuses to apply, including including a rise in VAT or a more flexible labor law.

But the proposal would be written “so that would suit the Greek side and the direction of the Eurogroup” as said Wednesday Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.

Brussels had given the government of Alexis Tsipras given until Friday to request the extension of the aid program ending February 28. Germany asserts that the extension is inseparable from the implementation of the reforms envisaged in the bailout, in force since 2010.

But Greece continues to differentiate the extent of European loan programs and extension of the austerity measures that accompany them, which Tsipras opposes.

On Thursday a meeting of senior officials of the euro zone (the so-called Euro Working Group) held to discuss the Greek request, prior to the Eurogroup Friday.

In this context, the Athens stock exchange operated on Thursday uptrend as Wednesday.

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