Eurogroup

By Angelos Stangos

The history of the European Union is one of constant change and the emergence of new dynamics. It is all about compromises and procedures that lead to the final product, which is the decisions that are made and then implemented.

The chairman of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday the eurozone must "jointly reform" and added that high taxes on labor are an obstacle to growth.

Speaking in Berlin, Dijsselbloem said that national tax cuts should be coordinated across Europe.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the center-right candidate for European Commission president and former Eurogroup chairman declared on Friday that SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, his leftist rival for the top EC post, would not make a good Greek Prime Minister as he would not cooperate effectively with the commission.

The five EU Commission President candidates clashed Thursday evening in a televised debate in the European Parliament chamber in Brussels.

It was their last meeting ahead of the upcoming European elections next week and also the first in which Greek leftist coalition SYRIZA's leader Alexis Tsipras, the European Left Party nominee, took part.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras conveyed Greece’s request for a lightening of the country’s debt burden to his eurozone counterparts at a summit in Brussels on Monday but, as expected, foreign officials indicated that a decision on this issue would not be considered until the fall.

Thirteen days ahead of local elections and 20 days ahead of European Parliament elections, coalition partners New Democracy and PASOK are seeking to galvanize their party base to secure results that will dampen leftist opposition SYRIZA’s calls for a snap national vote.

 Stournaras to put forward suggestions on how to reduce annual repayments at Monday’s Eurogroup

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is due to ask his eurozone counterparts Monday to begin considering further debt relief for Greece, with the government already having drafted a number of options to reduce the repayments the country faces in the years to come.

Greece will put the issue of further debt relief on the agenda at the May 5 Eurogroup, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told businessmen in Athens on Monday.

Greece made its first official request on Thursday for further debt relief as the Euro Working Group (EWG) met in Brussels to rubber-stamp the 2013 primary surplus and approve the release of another 6.3 billion euros in bailout funding.