Meeting of the Committee on Economic and Monetary&nbsp;Affairs&nbsp;during the plenary session of&nbsp;April in Strasbourg.&nbsp;Exchange of views with Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue and with, Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs&nbsp; - EP Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.&nbsp;Questions/remarks&nbsp;by Georgios KYRTSOS (EPP, EL), Udo BULLMANN (S&amp;D, DE) and&nbsp;Ernest URTASUN (Greens/EFA, ES).

exchange of views

EU - Greece (T)

meeting

KYRTSOS, Georgios (Renew, EL)

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

economic situation in Greece (T)

MOSCOVICI, Pierre (PSE, FR, EC)

BULLMANN, Udo (S&D, DE)

DOMBROVSKIS, Valdis (EPP, LV, EC)

URTASUN, Ernest (Greens/EFA, ES)

Financial assistance working group to Greece (11/04/2016): extracts from the exchange of views with Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC and Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC - ECON Committee meeting

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, Discussions focus on measures to meet the fiscal targets in the medium term, so primary surplus of 3,5% of GDP by 2018, pension reform, implementation of Non-Performing Loans strategy, independent revenue administration, new privatisation fund, opening up of energy and gas markets and several other issues

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, Economic growth is better than previously anticipated and this also bears well for meeting the fiscal targets

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, Since last summer, Greece has done a lot implement its ambitious and front loaded reform strategy, two sets of milestones were delivered and bank recapitalisation completed, but there is no time for complacency, Greece still needs to adopt a very significant package of measures

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, The Commission  is actively helping Greece with implementation of reforms, last October we agreed with Greek authorities a plan for technical cooperation in support of structural reforms, in key areas such as revenue administration, justice, anti-corruption, regulative barriers to competition, privatisation, public procurement and health care reform

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, The recapitalisation of 4 Greek banks took place before the end of 2015, progress has been made with regard to income tax and also on the reform of pensions and the introduction of privatisation funds and the creation of an independent revenue agency

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, The Commission and the other European institutions feel that this package of 3% of GDP has every chance of succeeding in achieving the 3,5% target set for 2018 and we feel that asking for any additional effort from Greece at the moment would have a negative impact on growth, and even more so on the weight of the debt

SOUNDBITE (English), Georgios KYRTSOS (EPP, EL), What are exactly the differences between te Ec and the IMF?

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, We broadly share the programme objectives, also the measures needed to reach the programme objectives, of course we also know that there are some differences on assessments, how much effort is needed to reach the fiscal targets, there are some nuances on certain structural reforms, but I would say that this is certainly bridgeable.

SOUNDBITE (English), Udo BULLMANN (S&amp;D, DE), The question is, against the seriousness of the situation, can guarantee us that no institutional gambling is going on?

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, The situation is very serious, Greece is facing multiple crises, so we fully understand the complexity of the situation and the need to find a solution, but of course a solution also depends on Greek authorities delivering in the commitments

SOUNDBITE (German), Bernd LUCKE (ECR, DE), There was the protocol from the IMF which wasn't particularly flattering to the Eurozone because it sais that the Eurozone would give in irrespective of what would happen in Greece that thee Eurozone had no red lines.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, We don't have lines that are red, yellow or orange we have the common road map document, which is the Memorandum of Understanding.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ernest URTASUN (Greens/EFA, ES), When we were in Greece, we were told in the discussion of the stabilisation of the pension system, the Greek government was proposing an increase during 3 years of 1,5% of the contributions, and that apparently the institutions and the Commission was not agreeing on that. Could you confirm this, and if that is the case, what is the reason for that?

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Vice-President of the EC in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, Indeed the Greek government has presented a quite comprehensive proposal already several months ago, and indeed it also included temporary increases in social security contributions. So those elements are still under discussion but really we believe that agreement is within reach.