Juncker: It is Premature to Talk About a Third Bailout Program for Greece

• 03.05.2015, 14:10
•  Europe,  World

Talks on a third bailout package for Greece were held in Brussels on Wednesday.  At a joint press conference after the meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stated that the Athens should continue to pursue the reform program agreed with its EU partners.

This was the first time since the election of the new Commission, that Merkel was meeting the commissioners.

"Now it’s about the implementation of the agreed paper that has been agreed upon in the Eurogroup. The three institutions – the troika – will do the evaluation and I think we have a lot to do in order to move this forward,"  - Merkel said, speaking about the second aid program to Greece.

At the same time Juncker thinks, it is too early to discuss a third bailout package for Greece, also stressing the fact that  the most important point in the talks with Athens was the implementation of the measures already agreed with the euro zone. He said: "It is premature to talk about a third program. That is speculation that is best avoided."

This reaction came after an earlier announcement of Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos, who stated that a new aid package is almost inevitable. Once the current four-month extension deal expires a new package of approximately 30 to 50 billion euros will be put on table.

Thus, the "humiliation", as the government calls the current situation around Greece, is going on, which causes the defeat of the new government. By their everyday concessions they give up their election campaign points step by step. The European leaders do not believe Greece can deal with its debts on its own. Greece can face a cash crunch in the coming weeks as it will have to pay several billion euros to the Troika: two billion to the International Monetary Fund this month and about seven billion euros to ECB in July and August.

One thing is clear- Greece is facing the greatest ambiguity of all times. During the course of the time this ambiguity will either become a bigger source of tension or a source of relief both for Syriza and the country’s population.