LUXEMBOURG--A decision on a much-needed 31.5 billion euro ($40.7
billion) bailout tranche for Greece, withheld since June, can be
expected in November at the latest, European Union Economics Chief
Olli Rehn said Tuesday.
A two-year extension to Greece's fiscal targets -- reaching a
4.5% gross domestic product primary surplus -- will "have to be
considered" by euro-zone finance ministers. He said that the
European Commission had "a certain view" on this but he preferred
to make it public when he had to make a formal recommendation to
the euro-zone finance ministers' group. EU officials have said that
the European Commission is in favor of such an extension. But there
is no agreement among Greece's creditors over how the financing gap
that such an extension would create could be filled.
With Greece saying it runs out of cash sometime in November, it
had previously been hoped that the sizeable loan slice, earmarked
for bank recapitalization and other payments, would come in
October. But a review of Greece's compliance with its obligations
under its program is still underway in Athens. The heads of the
team of experts from Greece's troika of creditors --the European
Commission, the European Central Bank and the International
Monetary Fund -- were in Luxembourg Monday to brief euro-zone
finance ministers on the Greek situation.
Euro-zone officials described the discussion that followed the
presentation as "heated".
The Greek government, currently scrambling to get together a
convincing package of savings worth EUR13.5 billion, will have to
"legislate and implement" a list of 89 so-called "prior actions"
before it can hope to get the funding it needs, Mr Rehn said.
The list includes some purely administrative actions the Greek
government needs to complete as well as some tougher structural
reforms, which may be harder to push through quickly.
Mr Rehn said Greece would have to do that "in the coming weeks,"
while the head of the euro-zone finance ministers' group,
Jean-Claude Juncker, had said the night before at a press
conference that the country had to show "commitment" to those prior
actions by the EU leaders' meeting scheduled for Oct. 18.
Mr Rehn was speaking at the margins of an EU finance ministers'
meeting in Luxembourg.
Write to Matina Stevis at matina.stevis@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires