“The Eurogroup is meeting tomorrow, the EuroWorking Group today”, said Mrs. Friederike von Tiesenhausen, “During the last two weeks there has been a lot of intensive work. I can refer you to the Minister's statements, that he is optimistic that progress has been achieved. Now, a day before the meeting I would not like to make any assessments but the weekend statements stand on their own”. 

To another question, about the participation of the IMF to the Greek bailout program, she answered:” You know the position of the government, that we consider the participation of the IMF necessary, as well as our position on a possible lightening of the debt. Now, her there no change. We are going towards an important meeting tomorrow, even today crucial work is being done by the deputy ministers. The position of the government has not changed”

In her answer to a question about the fact that Mr.Schauble expressed his optimism, while the IMF insists on a re-profiling of the Greek debt, the spokeswoman asked for patience until tomorrow's Eurogroup while noting that during the past few days there have been meeting in Japan. ” I cannot bias tomorrow's meeting at the Eurogroup. I can only stress, one more time, what I already said concerning our position on a possible lightening of the debt and the participation of the IMF and the minister's statements during the weekend. We must now all wait what will come out tomorrow”.

When asked about the size of the loan tranche to be paid to Greece, a subject which has been discussed a lot in the media, in the past days, Mrs. v. Tiesenhausen noted that the Greek program does not have a tranche payment schedule with specific numbers/

“It is certain that there are ideas, but we are taking this step-by-step. We are still at the phase of the first evaluation. The main meeting is due tomorrow, all other questions will be addressed afterwards” she stressed.