OECD’s Gurria calls for substantial Greek debt relief package

Speaking to the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, ahead of the crucial 21 June Eurogroup meeting, the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria, expressed support for a substantial debt relief package for Greece.

. European Parliament Vice President Dimitris Papadimoulis, who heads the SYRIZA parliamentary group, had invited Gurria to take a stand on the impending debt relief decision and on the course of the Greek economy and the reform programme thus far.

Gurria said that the reduction of the Greek debt should have been undertaken much sooner with the full support of all countries, including Germany and France.

He underlined that the then eurozone finanace ministers decided that the banks which held Greek debt were in danger, and they decided to protect them by lending Greece the money of European taxpayers, in order to pay off the debt to banks and to transform private debt into public debt.

Gurria described that debt as inelastic, as it belongs to the IMF and the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) and thus cannot be written down.

Gurria noted improvements in the Greek economy, as a two percent growth rate is projected for this year and 2.3 percent for next year, thanks to recent reforms.