(REUTERS) Euro zone finance ministers said on Sunday (July 12) some issues remained before they could give the green light for a third bailout programme for Greece.
They asked Greece to show it was serious about the reforms it pledged to implement by getting them approved in parliament in the coming days. Some laws will have to be passed by Wednesday and the entire package endorsed by parliament before talks can start, ministers said.
The ministers concluded their meeting a euro zone heads of state and governments arrived for an emergency summit just a few meters away.
“We have come a long way but a couple of big issues still are open so we are going to put those to the governments’ leaders and it’s up to them,” Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said.
The finance ministers meeting started on Saturday (July 11) and broke off after nine hours of acrimonious debate.
“It took a long time, it was an intense discussion and well, we now have an agreement on over 90 percent (of the issues.) For the rest it will be up to the heads of state and governments to decide and finalise,” Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt said.
Finland is one of the countries which opposed a quick deal. Their finance minister, Alexander Stubb, said on Saturday more guarantees and reforms were needed to re-instill trust in the Greek authorities.
As he came out of the marathon talks on Sunday, Stubb was satisfied with the conditionality attached to any new bailout programme.
“I think there’s a very good proposal on the table, a report that will now be moved forward to the heads of state and government. It has far-reaching conditionality,” Stubb said.
“For us the most important thing is that if we were to open negotiations on ESM (European Stability Mechanism) this whole package has to be approved by both the Greek government and the Greek parliament and then we’ll have a look,” he added.
Helsinki’s stance has hardened since the populist Finns Party joined a right-wing coalition that took office in May.
Austrian Finance Minister Hans-Joerg Schelling said ministers would wait for the Greek parliament to start implementing some measures.
“The decisive point is that Greece — starting tomorrow — must show us they agree with the statement, that the parliament agrees, and following that the measures should be implemented through parliament in the next few days and when all these conditions will be filled then we can start talks on an additional programme but not before,” Schelling said.
Greece asked for 53.5 billion euros ($59 billion) to help cover its debts until 2018, a review of primary budget surplus targets in the light of the sharp deterioration of its economy, and a “reprofiling” of the country’s long-term debt.
Any deal would also have to be endorsed by national parliaments including in Germany, which must also formally approve the loan negotiations being started.
Two previous bailouts worth 240 billion euros since 2010 didn’t manage to get Greece back on the path of growth.