ESM chief Regling says debt relief for Greece might come only in tranches

The managing director of the Eurozone’s permanent rescue fund ESM, Klaus Regling, said in an interview with Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti that debt relief for Greece could be granted only in tranches as happens now with the emergency loans. “It is a possibility in order to have conditionality in place for longer”, Regling told the Finnish daily. Such debt relief would be effectively granted quite a while after the bailout program for Greece ends in July 2018, the ESM head explained. “It could still be linked to some kind of conditionality to monitor and to make sure the reform process continues after the program is over,” Regling said. cep economist Matthias Kullas believes that this would be the right way to proceed. “This will make it more likely that the reform willingness of Greece will not ease off,” he said.