Regling: Confidence in Greece has increased

Asked whether Greece can be considered a success story, he said: Absolutely. Some years ago, nobody would believe that Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus could become success stories. When I refer to these four countries, I always consider them as success stories. Greece can be included in this group of countries provided that it implements the agreed reforms.

The programme has in general brought positive results, he said added: Growth has returned. Unemployment may still be high, but it is lower that it was three years ago. And I believe that Greece's future can be good if the government sticks on the implementation of the agreed reforms.

He also said that confidence in Greece has increased compared to some years ago.

Referring to the increased supervision, he cleared out that this does not entail a new programme. Increased supervision is implemented in order to be sure that the country remains on its course, he said adding that there is no new programme, there are no new preconditions.

On the debt relief measures, he said that they were agreed at the Eurogroup held in June and they will be implemented in September and October.

He also said that the government is considering reducing taxes as soon as there is some fiscal room. Regling admitted that when the crisis began in 2010, the eurozone was not prepared to deal with such a serious crisis.

Source: ANA - MPE