Eurogroup president Mario Centeno has said that the target for Greece is to reach a staff-level agreement with creditors before the 24 May meeting of the Eurogroup.

In a letter to Eurogroup finance ministers, Centeno said that the enhanced fiscal surveillance proposed by the European Commission was discussed at the last Eurogroup meeting.

That gives Athens less than two weeks to complete the remaining 85 of the 88 preconditions for completing the bailout evaluation.

The completion of the evaluation, Centeno said, is a necessary condition for the 21 June Eurogroup to take all the decisions necessary to ensure Athens’ successful exit from the fiscal adjustment programme in August.

It is also a precondition for Greece’s creditors to decide concrete debt relief measures.

Centeno said the debt relief strategy will continue to be discussed in the coming weeks.

The paragraph on Greece in his letter to Eurozone finance minister is as follows:

«The institutions debriefed the Eurogroup on the state of play of the fourth review of the ESM stability support programme and announced the return of the mission teams to Athens on 14 May.The aim is to reach a staff level agreement ahead of the May Eurogroup.»

«We also held an exchange of views on some key elements to support the successful exit of Greece from the programme. The Greek Minister presented the growth strategy of Greece for the coming years,which aims to boost Greece’s long-term growth potential and enhance the investment climate.»

«We also discussed how we can further support the Greek authorities in their continued reform efforts in the years after the programme. We took note of the intention of the Greek government not to request a successor arrangement. On the future monitoring of the economic, fiscal and financial developments,the Eurogroup took note of the so-called ‘enhanced surveillance’ tool, as proposed by the Commission. Discussion on the debt strategy will continue in the weeks ahead. On the basis of a successful review, the Eurogroup will decide in June on all the elements to ensure a
successful exit of Greece from the program by August.