Greece to get new loans
The Eurogroup ministers have agreed to give Greece further loans to the tune of 8.5 billion euros but failed to reach a consensus on another topic: contrary to the wishes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) they won't make a decision on debt relief until 2018. For Europe's commentators the outcome of the negotiations is anything but a happy end.
A false victory
Protagon sees no cause for celebration:
“The hope that we would receive debt relief hasn't been fulfilled; it was always a chimera in this current phase. After all, elections are soon to take place in Germany. The government had to go through a lot before it finally understood this. … The prime minister hurried to announce the agreement in advance. So it was a 'victory' even though the country will be left out of the [ECB's] quantitative easing programme - which was the main goal just a few days ago. … And despite the fact that the eagerly anticipated decision on debt relief will now be postponed until 2018.”
Is Macron Tsipras's last hope?
Alexis Tsipras has once again been forced to kowtow to the country's creditors, Il Sole 24 Ore sighs:
“After the Eurogroup's compromise, what the Greek prime minister will do now is anyone's guess. And this despite his having promised his country that this time debt relief would be granted in return for the new sacrifices demanded by the troika, and that the country would receive aid through the ECB's bond-buying programme. That would have enabled the country to return to the capital markets. He could put Greece on the agenda for discussion at the EU summit on June 22. As the austerity policy eats away at Tsipras's support, much now depends on French President Macron.”