Dutch prime minister lukewarm about Greece deal
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte sounded lukewarm about the Greece deal reached on Monday, saying ‘it was a complicated birth’.
He was speaking at a press conference immediately following the announcement of the agreement by the eurozone countries.
‘It is a fair but tough agreement,’ Rutte said.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch leader of the eurogroup, said talks will begin immediately on bridge financing for Greece to help cover its debt repayments this summer.
Dijsselbloem said €50bn of Greek assets will be transferred to a new fund to contribute to the recapitalisation of Greek banks. The fund will be based in Athens, not Luxembourg as originally planned.
The Greek parliament must immediately start passing legislation to implement the measures agreed in Brussels, Dijsselbloem said.
Parliaments
If Athens does that on Tuesday and Wednesday, then the eurogroup can take a view on Wednesday, and then national parliaments can give their own approval for a third bailout.
Rutte said the rescue package is expected to cost between €82bn and €86bn.
‘The rescue package is possible but it will be step by step,’ he told the press conference. ‘The whole package must be embraced politically. Only then can negotiations begin and these could take weeks. We are not prepared to undo the principles of monetary union.’
Later today, the eurogroup members will vote on a new eurogroup leader. It is expected that Dijsselbloem will be given a second term.
Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.
We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.
Make a donation