BERLIN
German Chancellor Angela Merkel cautiously welcomed on Wednesday the agreement on extending Greece’s bailout program and underlined that Athens has more work to do.
“That makes the starting point…There is still much work ahead of us,” Merkel said at a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Loefven, following their talks at the Swedish Prime Ministry.
“Now we should take this way, which of course has challenges. I am under no illusions. But I think it is worth our continued struggle, because it is about the future of Euro,” Merkel stressed.
Her remarks came a day after Eurozone finance ministers approved Greece’s list of reforms needed to extend its bailout program by four months.
The Eurogroup announced its agreement on Tuesday following a teleconference call during which Greece’s reform package, put forward by Athens earlier in the day, was discussed.
Greece’s €240 billion ($274 billion) bailout deal expires on Feb. 28, and Tuesday’s agreement among the Eurogroup members to extend the bailout program has to be approved by the German parliament before Sunday.
The German government has already requested from the parliament an extension of the Greek bailout program, but made it conditional upon Greece's completion of the review process by creditors.
The German parliament is expected to vote on the motion on Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative-left coalition government enjoys an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
