E.U. Reaches €8.5 Billion Debt Deal for Greece
By JAMES KANTER and NIKI KITSANTONISJUNE 15, 2017
LUXEMBOURG — European Union officials agreed on Thursday to unlock loans of 8.5 billion
euros for Greece, to ensure the country meets huge payments on its debt next month.
The plans outlined on Thursday night were part of efforts to get Greece standing "on its own feet again." Christine Lagarde, the managing director of
the I.M.F., said she was prepared to recommend joining the bailout even though there was still work to do on how to ease the country’s debt burden.
The deal, reached by eurozone finance ministers, will ensure
that Greece can pay about €7 billion, or $7.9 billion, next month on its towering pile of loans.
Germany, the currency area’s largest economy and its de facto leader, will hold national elections in September,
and the country’s leaders, including the hard-line Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, have shown little appetite to be specific about which concessions Greece were promised.
European authorities have agreed to disburse $8.4 billion in fresh funds to
Greece, allowing the country to keep paying its bills in the coming months.
On one side, several eurozone countries led by Germany want Athens to carry out what they view as
reforms before specifying debt concessions that could go into force next year at the earliest.
