Greece

The Eurogroup welcomed the preliminary agreement reached between Greece and the institutions on a new set of policy reforms to support the country's economic recovery. The agreement is an important step towards the finalisation of the second review of Greece's macroeconomic adjustment programme.

The Eurogroup commended the progress achieved by Greece in already implementing a significant part of the agreed prior actions.

The reform measures, legislated by Greece, cover areas such as pensions, income tax, the labour market and the energy sector. They should support the growth-friendly rebalancing of the economy and make Greece's medium-term fiscal strategy more robust.

The Eurogroup held an in-depth discussion on the sustainability of Greece's public debt but did not reach an overall agreement. Work will continue in the coming weeks within the framework agreed in May 2016 with a view to reaching a definitive conclusion at the next Eurogroup meeting. 

Economic situation in the euro area

The Eurogroup exchanged views on the economic situation and recent inflation developments in the euro area, following the Commission's presentation of its spring 2017 economic forecast, published on 11 May 2017.

Spain: 7th post-programme surveillance mission

The Eurogroup was briefly informed about the main findings of the 7th post-programme surveillance mission to Spain, carried out by the staff of the European Commission and the European Central Bank on 24-26 April.

The mission confirmed that there was no risk of non-repayment of the loans that Spain received in the context of its programme to recapitalise its banking sector in 2012-2014, supported by the European Stability Mechanism.