Eurogroup

 Athens determined to resolve problems with pharmacists’ profit margins and open-air markets by Friday

By Eleni Varvitsioti

 While asking Greece to fulfill its commitments, eurozone must also meet its own, which would close gap

By Dimitris Kontogiannis

 Hardouvelis tells Eurogroup peers that reform effort is ongoing

Greece has committed itself to the immediate fulfillment of some prior actions required for the disbursement of the next bailout sub-tranches, the head of the Eurogroup stated on Thursday following a meeting of the council of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg.

The sudden appearance of buyers at the end of Wednesday’s local bourse session turned things around for the benchmark, granting it gains of nearly 1 percent and putting an end to five consecutive days of decline.

Greece’s new Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis will meet his eurozone counterparts this week as he is due to take part in his first Eurogroup on Thursday, when he will have to provide reassurances that the government will complete the 12 prior actions it has agreed with the troika to receive another 2 billion euros in bailout loans.

 Rehn praises Hardouvelis’s appointment as senior euro officials express ‘relief’

The appointment of Gikas Hardouvelis, a non-partisan technocrat, at the helm of the Finance Ministry as part of the major shake-up of the Greek Cabinet on Monday was Tuesday welcomed by the European Union’s economy chief and other senior officials in Brussels.

 Reshuffle and closure of Parliament mean postponing implementation of prior actions beyond June 13

By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou

Greece will likely require a third bailout package, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem reiterated on Wednesday in an interview on Dutch TV.

Echoing his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble, the Dutch finance minister said that the amount Greece will require and on what level the new assistance will be organized will be discussed during the summer.

The German Finance Ministry on Monday sought to play down comments by Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble that Greece would require a third bailout but, coming amid rising pressure by the troika for Greek authorities to enforce reforms, Schaeuble’s comments were seen as a prod in the same direction.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras refused to make on Minday any further comment on his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble’s claim that Greece would need more loans.

Stournaras was asked about the German minister’s comments when he left a meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras at the Maximos Mansion. “We put out a statement yesterday,” said Stournaras.