Mário Centeno

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras presented the government's priorities for 2020 at Monday's Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, mentioning Athens' request for a primary surplus reduction for 2021 and 2022, an issue eurozone sources say will start being debated in the year's first half.

European finance ministers have agreed on the details of a relatively small investment and reform budget within the euro area, which will start operating in 2021.

The euro zone budget, known as the Budgetary Instrument for Convergence and Competitiveness (BICC), is expected to be finalized next year and start operating in 2021, Eurogroup President Mario Centeno said on Thursday.

The euro zone economy needs more spending from countries that have money to invest, euro zone finance ministers said on Wednesday ahead of a meeting at which they will discuss the slowing growth in the euro one economy.

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras will present the priorities of the new Greek government at Friday's Eurogroup meeting before sending a letter to the European Stability Mechanism informing Greece's main creditor of Athens' intention to repay some of the loans from the International Monetary Fund ahead of schedule.

The governments of the European Union, which had given themselves time until the end of July to choose their candidate for the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have not yet agreed on the name of Christine Lagarde's successor, the French finance ministry reported.

The head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Klaus Regling, has left open the prospect of Greece not lowering its tax-free threshold as it agreed to with creditors, but Regling also signaled that the incoming Greek government's aim of lowering of primary surplus targets is at the moment hardly a sure thing.

Greece's creditors rejected the calls of the country's new conservative government to alleviate the strict budgetary conditions agreed in the rescue program.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos chose to skip last week's Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, where serious criticism was expressed against Greek government decisions. The minister's explanation for staying in Athens was that Greece would not be on the agenda of the eurozone finance ministers' talks, which he knew was not the case.

Eurogroup President Mario Centeno ahead of today's meeting of ministers praised Athens' ability to exceed primary surplus targets and said that this achievement has been accompanied by economic growth

Eurozone finance ministers could grant Greece close to one billion euros in April if Athens completes by then the reforms agreed with creditors, top eurozone officials said on Monday.