Eurogroup to send lenders' team back to Athens: EU's Moscovici

[BRUSSELS] Eurozone finance ministers should agree on Monday to send representatives of Greece's lenders to Athens to finish a review of Greek reforms, paving the way for new loans and debt relief talks, Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Monday.

The lenders need to assess if Greece has delivered on the reforms it promised as part of the third bailout agreement, signed with them last August, in exchange for cheap loans.

The review of the reforms, started in late January, stalled in early February over details of the politically very difficult pension reform as well as diverging views between the euro zone and the IMF on how to make the economy and debt sustainable in the longer term.

"We are not at a conclusion, but yes, the mission chiefs could and should return to Athens with the prospect of concluding the review as fast as possible," Moscovici told reporters ahead of the ministers' talks. "I think that today we will come to a unanimous decision to send the mission chiefs back to Athens. It is my point of view that we should do that," he said.

REUTERS