Scicluna says eurozone must decide how flexible it can be with Greece

Malta’s finance minister Edward Scicluna has adopted a much more diplomatic tone on his stance on Greece, after saying that talks with the debt-ridden Eurozone member were grinding to a “communication breakdown.”

In a statement in Brussels, where he attended a Eurogroup meeting that focussed mostly on Greece, Scicluna said that Malta and other Eurozone states had to decide on how flexible they were going to be in helping Greece come out of its current situation.

“The issue is moral hazard. We have to decide how flexible we want to be, without sending signs to programme countries that we would allow anything... flexible enough to help Greece,” Scicluna said.

Ministers from euro area countries were  briefed on the state of play in the ongoing discussions between the Greek authorities and the so called Troika – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – on the list of reforms that the Greek government is expected to complete under the current agreement.

The ministers also discussed the economic situation in the euro area based on the spring 2015 economic forecast by the European Commission, published on 5 May 2015, and exchanged views on inflation and exchange rate developments. They also held a thematic discussion on ensuring strong fiscal frameworks in the euro area Member States.

On Tuesday Scicluna, who is accompanied by the Finance Ministry’s Permanent Secretary  Alfred Camilleri, will join his EU counterparts for a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN).