Regling blames public administration for Greek woes

Greece can be a success story if it sticks to agreed reforms, European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Managing Director Klaus Regling has said, adding that eurozone countries could agree on debt relief measures for Greece, if necessary, after August 2018 provided that Athens has seen through its commitments.

In an op-ed published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, Regling compared the experience of Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus, where the financial adjustment programs were brought to a “successive conclusion as he said,” with the situation in Greece, which he described as a “special case.”

“In no other country were difficulties so big and the public administration so weak,” he said of Greece.

“This is why efforts to stabilize [the country] have yet to be completed after seven years of austerity,” he said.

In the same article, the ESM head said that Greece will not need all 86 billion euros from the third program of financial assistance.