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The head of Eurogroup and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker is on a visit to Athens. His aim is to examine how Greece is coping with its obligations under the second Memorandum of financial aid. The heads of the supervisory Troika of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission will return to Athens after two weeks to prepare the final version of the September report on the state of the local economy. It will determine whether Greece will receive the 31 billion euro set in the bailout agreement.

There is some time until then and the head of Eurogroup is willing to examine on the spot the preparation of the Greek government to trigger the privatization programme, the reduction of government spending and the ending of the negative economic growth. Meetings with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras are planned in the schedule of Juncker’s visit. Juncker expects to hear from them concrete measures for balancing the revenue and expenditure. Stournaras and Samaras in turn will most likely require an extension of the financial assistance by one to two years to ease the effect of drastic fiscal consolidation. Despite the budget cuts so far, the Greek deficit has not recorded the expected decline and the country is still spending more than it is producing. The gross domestic product dropped along with the introduction of reforms in the last two years. Since the outbreak of the crisis, the Greek economy has shrunk by about 20% but the trend will remain negative without incentives for the economic growth.

Antonis Samaras will receive Jean-Claude Juncker in his prime minister’s office in Athens at 5:30 pm. Later, Juncker will visit the Acropolis Museum, where a business dinner will follow. The head of the Eurogroup did not accept the request of Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the radical leftist opposition SYRIZA, to meet. Party representatives determined the refusal as "possibly the biggest institutional impropriety and abuse of democracy."

After the meeting with his Greek counterpart in Athens, Juncker said he strongly opposed the exit of Greece from the euro zone. This would be favourable neither to Greece, nor to the euro area. He did not rule out that another debt haircut would be possible, but this time the restructuring of obligations would affect the Greek bonds held by official institutions. However, Juncker stressed that any decisions would be taken after discussing the results of the supervisory Troika’s report, which is to be released in the autumn. The same applies for Greece’s will to extend the implementation of the recovery programme set in the second Memorandum of financial aid. Juncker does not support the notion of giving a third financial aid to the country and insists that it is necessary to find a recovery formula within the current arrangement.

Jean-Claude Juncker said the ball was in the field of Greece and the implementation of fiscal consolidation was the first task of the government. President of the Eurogroup did not fail to note that structural reforms were late and their implementation was of great importance for the recovery of the local economy. He stressed that there was a severe lack of confidence in the country and only hard work and efforts could change this trend. "The measures Greece will offer must be achievable and effective," he was firm.

"We are committed and will fulfil all of the obligations," Antonis Samaras said in turn. He called Jean-Claude Juncker a personal friend and said that Greece was different in the last two months. Samaras pointed out the expansion of the privatization programme and the determination of all three parties in the government to consolidate the budget of Greece in accordance with the agreement signed. Then he required Europe to support the measures for economic growth and development. "An economy in a permanent recession and huge unemployment mainly in young people cannot stay on its feet. We want solutions to liquidity problems as quickly as possible." Antonis Samaras said that Greek people gave a clear message in the last election round that it is willing to remain in the euro zone. As a result of this decision, the Greeks want the austerity measures that come with fiscal consolidation to have a positive effect on the economic recovery of the country.