The aid deal secured for Greece at the Eurogroup on Friday may lead the country forward as it is an opportunity to reform its economy, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told journalists after the end of the Finance Ministers meeting in Brussels.
“After six months of very difficult negotiations with lots of ups and downs, we finally have an agreement. This deal is something that we hope will take Greece forward. It takes Greece forward in the sense that the financial system should be much more stable from now on,” Tsakalotos said, noting that the agreement excludes any bail-in for depositors.
He said this means that the process of reversing the negative effects of capital controls will start very quickly and will speedily return the banks to where they were before, and “hopefully on a far firmer footing.”
The Minister explained the deal has many opportunities for Greece. “It has an opportunity for Greek people to reform their public sector, to address the issue of corruption, the issue of tax evasion and a number of very important structural reforms.”
He also admitted it creates problems for many social groups and dealing with those problems will depend on how the government presents proposals that the institutions are willing to listen as a whole.
Tsakalotos also said that a development plan will be presented in March 2016 and at the same time the government will prepare plans for the agricultural sector and farmers before that.
“So in the end, how good this deal is it depends on how Greek society, state, economy, social and economic sectors respond to it. Any deal is only as good as what you make of it. So let’s hope the Greek people will be able to make the best of this deal and the ability to reform, and will mitigate any negative consequences that surely exist within it,” he noted.
(source: ana-mpa)
By A. Makris – Aug 15, 2015 source: http://greece.greekreporter.com/
