Talks on a possible third bailout for Greece can begin once its government bridges “substantial” differences with creditors over its current loan arrangement, European Union economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici said.
“We first need to close the review of the second program, to conclude the program, and then we’ll be capable of talking about further arrangements,” he said in a Bloomberg television interview Friday. “Let’s not confuse those problems, those challenges -- each of them is quite difficult, delicate, but each of them can be addressed.”
Moscovici, who spoke in the German city of Dresden where he’s attending a meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers, said Greece and its international creditors were still far from a deal and “it’s clear that we need to speed up.”
Greece’s final 7.2 billion-euro ($7.9 billion) bailout installment is on hold as its institutional creditors try to pin the government down to a plan to revamp its economy. Some analysts say the country will need a new bailout to meet financial obligations after the current 240 billion-euro program expires at the end of June.
