EU economic official expects OK for more aid for Greece

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union’s top economic official says he expects eurozone finance ministers to sign off on the payout of $17 billion in aid for Greece on Sunday and decide on a new bailout in July.

Olli Rehn said Thursday that such a two-step approach “means that the funding of the Greek sovereign debt can now be ensured until September, while we take the decisions for the medium-term, beyond September, in July.”

Rehn said he expected those decisions to come in agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which had previously said it can’t pay its part of the next aid installment without assurance over Greece’s long-term financing.

Rehn said it was “regrettable that the efforts to build national unity (in Greece) failed (Wednesday),” but that he still expected parliament to pass new austerity measures.

Associated Press