Greece ‘running out of time to secure aid deal’

Greece is not moving fast enough to draw up and implement structural reforms and there is limited time to prevent it running out of cash, European Commission vice president Valdis Dombrovskis said yesterday.

The mood between Greece’s recently elected leftist government and its eurozone partners has been tense during negotiations that will determine whether the cash-strapped country gets further, much-needed financial aid from its EU/IMF lenders.

“Talks are very complicated. Time is running out,” said Mr Dombrovskis.

“Greece should come up with an ambitious reform list in line with its bailout programme and also start to implement it,” he said.

A meeting of deputy finance ministers — called the Euro Working Group — last Thursday gave Athens a deadline of six working days to present a revised economic reform plan before eurozone finance ministers meet on April 24 to decide whether to unlock emergency funding to keep Greece afloat.

Mr Dombrovskis noted April 24 was not a formal deadline to reach a deal with Greece, but the country’s financial difficulties were pressing.

Technical teams from Greece and its international lenders held a teleconference on Saturday to outline the agenda of talks over the next few days, a Greek finance ministry official said at the weekend.

Reuters