Pierre Moscovici

European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici is on Wednesday expected to convey to Athens the growing concern in Brussels, as Greece's creditors see no progress in the implementation of the country's post-bailout commitments.

European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici is due in Athens on Wednesday where he will meet with government ministers and the prime minister.

Moscovici will first see President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and then meet with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at Maximos Mansion between 14:45 and 15:30. Their meeting will be followed by brief statements to the press.

Romania is ready to work at a sustained pace during the negotiations on the future European budget for 2021-2027, so that an agreement to be reached by the end of this year, Minister of Finance, Eugen Teodorovici, said in a release sent to AGERPRES on Saturday.

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici will visit Athens on January 16, according to media reports on Friday.

Even though his agenda will be mainly political, the problems of Greek banks are expected to be discussed on his two-day visit and he is also expected to meet with representatives of the country's credit system, as well as political leaders.

Conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has written a letter to the European Union's Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on the issue of the government's nomination of former Supreme Court chief Vassiliki Thanou for the director's chair of the Hellenic Competition Commission.

European Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici has condemned the early Monday bomb attack against Skai TV.

"Press freedom is one of the pillars of European society. Every attack on it is an attack against our way of life, our principles and our values - an attack on all Europeans," Moscovici said in a tweet.

The blast caused extensive damage but no injuries.
 

The eurozone finance ministers have formally approved the Greek budget for 2019, waving it through Monday's Eurogroup meeting.

With the government readying the amendment that cancels the pension cuts for 2019, attention now shifts to the particularly important second European Commission report on Greece in February, as that is directly linked to debt easing measures.

The Eurogroup indicated on Monday that it will be green-lighting the Greek budget, though a final decision is not expected until early next month.

European Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said this on Tuesday, Tanjug is reporting, citing Reuters.

"I was never in favor of sanctions. Sanctions are always a failure. I want a dialogue, but sanctions can be finally applied if we cannot reach an agreement," he said.

The Greek budget is under scrutiny in order to estimate whether the country can achieve the budget surplus target for 2019, Eurogroup head Mario Centeno has said.