Mariano Rajoy trusts that the situation of uncertainty regarding Greece will be brought to an end on Sunday

European Council , Brussels (belgium)

The President of the Government explained that the Heads of State and Government of the Eurozone unanimously agreed that Greece must present a request for a new programme to the ESM in the coming hours, which will be subject to certain conditions. This programme will be reviewed by the troika (ECB, IMF and the European Commission), and if they accept the proposal they will submit it to the Eurogroup which will meet on Saturday. The following day the Heads of State and Government of all the Member States of the European Union will meet at an extraordinary European Council meeting called to that end.

According to Mariano Rajoy, "it is key to bringing this situation of uncertainty to an end", and what we need to do now is work together to ensure that things are resolved smoothly, whilst complying with the rules of the European institutions. Greece, he said, is in a difficult situation, "but I quite honestly believe that a lot of time has been lost", since it has gone from a positive growth forecast to negative growth, unemployment is rising and people cannot gain access to their deposits and their money from the banks. "The situation cannot go on like this; it is bad for the people of Greece, bad for Greece itself and bad for the European Union in terms of causing uncertainty", he added.

For this reason, he underlined the necessity of acting swiftly, while respecting the rules set by the European Union, because that gives "credibility, certainty and security" to the Eurozone.