Busy week ahead for Greek gov’t, with high-profile visits

The Greek government has a busy week lying ahead as it expects the disbursement of 7.5 billion euros from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and visits by the heads of the ESM and the European Commission on Tuesday.

ESM chief Klaus Regling is in Athens and holding a meeting with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos. He will also be addressing an Economist conference on the Greek economy on Wednesday.

The money from the eurozone bailout fund will be paid into two accounts, one for servicing Greece’s debt and the other for settling the state’s mounting arrears.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is also in the Greek capital on Tuesday and will be meeting with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Speaking in an interview with Euronews ahead of his visit and in regards to tense negotiations last year, the Commission chief said, “I was fiercely fighting for Greece to remain in the euro area, because (neither) the European Union (nor) the euro area would be complete without our Greek friends.

“What changed? Something has changed because since the summer of 2015 nobody is seriously advocating ‘Grexit.’ And this is due to the fact that we were able – the Greek authorities and the authorities of the euro area – to conclude the deal and this deal is respected by both sides,” he added.

Also on Wednesday, Tsakalotos and Alternate Minister Giorgos Houliarakis will be sitting down with representatives of Greece’s creditor institutions to draw up a timetable for the implementation of a second round of prior actions that need to be completed within September.

According to sources, the institutions want to pressure the government not to allow the summer break to slow down the momentum of reforms.