The European Central Bank executive board member Benoit Coeuré has called Greek authorities to implement the agreement reached with its creditors ‘in a forceful way’, in order to restore trust and for the Greek economy to recover, in an interview for the L’ Orient – Le Jour newspaper.
“Furthermore, with regard to the Greek issue, there was genuine consensus within the Eurogroup that Greece had to respect the rules of the game of Economic and Monetary Union” argued the ECB board member, who further explained that “the crux of the debate chiefly concerned the tension between the democratic legitimacy of an elected government and that of its European creditors, which also need to be accountable to their citizens regarding the fate of their loans or in granting a new support package”.
In the interview Mr. Coeuré noted that the Greek crisis highlighted the need to simplify governance in Europe. The ECB board member explained that “decision-making by simple majority within a common institution such as the ECB is more efficient and faster than intergovernmental decision-making”.
He further commented that “it is necessary to strengthen the convergence of the euro area economies and facilitate the completion of Economic and Monetary Union in the spirit of the «Five Presidents’ Report» published in June this year”.
