European Union Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told Bloomberg TV on Thursday that the Tsipras government’s pressing request to avoid a pre-legislated social security reduction – set for January 2019 – will be carefully examined.
Moscovici, amongst Athens’ most vocal supporters in Brussels, said European creditors must first carefully review the draft 2019 budget, the level of the primary budget surplus that the Greek state posts, as a percentage of GDP, as well as the fiscal surplus, before deciding.
At the same time, he said that since the country has exited the third memorandum, it is free to determine its fiscal policy, and may want to proceed with certain “social measures”.
