The letter sent yesterday evening by the Greek government to Brussels with a list of reform proposals constitutes "a valid starting point" but the commitments outlined by the Greek authorities "diverge from those contained in the aid program in a number of areas". This is what the president of the ECB writes, Mario Draghi, in a communication sent to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup.
“Our first impression – writes Draghi – is that the document covers a vast area of reforms and, in this sense, is complete enough to constitute a valid starting point for a positive conclusion of the examination”. However, “as expected, the Greek authorities were unable to go into detail on concrete proposals and commitments that can be evaluated by the institutions in terms of growth, public finances and financial stability. Given the limited time available, it is understandable,” writes Draghi.
“I start from the assumption – adds the number one of the ECB – that it is clear that the basis for concluding the current examination, and also for any future agreement, will be the commitments already existing within the framework of the current Memorandum of Understanding and the Memorandum on economic and financial policies”. In this context, “we underline that the commitments outlined by the Authorities differ from those existing in the program in various sectors'”. For these cases, the ECB "will have to evaluate during the examination whether instead of the measures not accepted by the Authorities there are other measures of equal or better quality in terms of achieving the objectives of the programme". Finally, Draghi "urgently asks the Greek authorities to act quickly to stabilize the culture of compliance with payment obligations and to refrain from any unilateral action in the opposite direction".
