Pierre Moscovici

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras will be meeting on Friday with European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici in Brussels, where the Greek official attended Thursday's Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

Outgoing European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici on Thursday admitted that decisions reached by the Eurogroup with regard to Greece over the course of the crisis could have been "quicker and more democratic."

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis discussed reforms aimed at boosting growth and creating new and well-paid jobs with visiting European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici on Friday.

The European Commission has further reduced its forecast for Greek growth in 2019, setting the bar at 2.1 percent according to its summer estimates, down from 2.2 percent in its spring report in May.

EU Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici is meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on Thursday morning to discuss the results of the Commission report which showed Greece has fallen behind in reforms required to receive almost 1 billion euros in aid.

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici demonstrated on Monday that the post-program patience of Greece's creditors regarding Athens's delays and backtracking on points agreed has limits. Asked whether Greece will collect eurozone central banks' earnings from Greek bond holdings, he pointed to the compliance report on February 27.

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.

The European Commission will examine whether Greece has the fiscal leeway to implement the measures included in its 2019 draft budget, European Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Monday.

Pension cuts due to come into effect in January remain a sore point in talks between Greece and its international creditors, with both sides apparently unwilling to compromise amid speculation that the deadlock could trigger early elections. 

The Greek economy is now in a position to create surpluses and continue to have growth in 2019, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said on Thursday.

"Greece has implemented 450 reforms that were necessary. I believe that Greece is now in a position to create surpluses and return to growth in 2019," Moscovici told France Info radio.