EU Says Won’t Abandon Greece
By KUNA
The European Union (EU) Monday refuted scenarios of an imminent Greek default and stressed that it will continue supporting Athens to overcome its economic crisis.
“The EU is not going to abandon Greece. A controlled default or an exit from the Eurozone would cause enormous economic and social damage to the European Union as a whole and will have serious spillovers to the world economy,” EU spokesperson for economic affairs Amadeu Tardio told a news conference.
“We will not let this happen,” he stressed.
The spokesman said the mission of the troika (EU, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) to Athens will take place soon, but he did not specify when.
The troika will check whether Greece is implementing its austerity programme as agreed with the EU.
EU finance ministers are expected to discuss on the payment of the next installment to Greece during their meeting in Luxembourg on October 3.
Greece is waiting for the payment of the sixth installment of EUR eight billion from the EUR 110 billion bailout, which was given last year by the EU and the IMF.
Analysts said Greece will run out of money if it does not get the EUR eight billion by mid October.
