BRUSSELS (MNI) – The European Commission Wednesday sought to
downplay expectations that EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday
and Friday would take any action on Greece’s next bailout loan tranche
and a possible request for aid by Spain.
Speaking to journalists the day before the summit starts, a
spokesman for the Commission said that the two countries were “not on
the agenda.”
“We see no particular reason for discussing any particular
country,” the spokesman said. “For Greece, the troika mission is still
underway. Until they have finished their job there, there’s not much
point in returning to the issue.”
On Spain, the spokesman said that the Commission had not changed
its view over the last two weeks and that the EU’s statistics office,
Eurostat, was still studying Spain’s budget proposals along with those
of all EU member states ahead of its Autumn economic forecasts, to be
released in November.
European leaders are expected to focus their discussions on plans
for deeper economic and monetary union and on banking supervision, the
spokesman said.
Eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg last week set Thursday’s
summit meeting as a deadline by which Greece must demonstrate that it
has enacted some 89 past reform commitments if it is to receive a
badly-needed E31.5 billion aid infusion before the end of November, when
Greek officials have warned they will run out of cash.
–Brussels Newsroom, +324-952-28374; pkoh@mni-news.com
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