European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said Friday that he considered the process of rendering financial assistance to Greece insufficiently democratic and transparent.
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2018) European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said Friday that he considered the process of rendering financial assistance to Greece insufficiently democratic and transparent.
"While officials had a major influence on the process, they were acting on a mandate given by euro area finance ministers, who took the final decisions. Yet the Eurogroup itself as a collective body is not subject to real democratic control. I myself felt uneasy when we decided, behind closed doors, the fate of millions of Greeks," Moscovici told journalists.
The commissioner described this situation as a "democratic scandal," because ministers were not fully informed about the situation nor did they have a relevant mandate from their national parliaments.
"I draw a clear lesson from this: the Eurogroup must become more democratic, more transparent and better monitored," he concluded.
The eurozone debt crisis hit Europe in 2009 after Greece became unable to refinance its government debt without external help and escalated by 2011 when a number of other states, including Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain, could also default on its debts. Brussels introduced austerity measures, forced states with a deficit to make severe budget cuts and provided a bailout package to rescue Greece. The bailout program is ending after August 20.
