EU Commissioner Calls for 'Comprehensive Agreement' on Greece Financial Support

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici has announced his plans to visit Athens before the end of November and stressed the importance of an exhaustive program of financial assistance to Greece, media reported Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Greece's international creditors signed an agreement with Athens last summer, approving a third bailout package worth about 86 billion euros ($97.3 billion) in exchange for austerity reforms, including pension cuts and tax hikes. The country's government led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pushed ahead with the reforms, and the prime minister has previously stated that he expects the country's GDP to return to growth by 2017.

"We need a comprehensive agreement [on Greece] that will include the reforms that are already being implemented, the recovery that is on the way and the debt. I hope that all this will be discussed before the end of the year," Moscovici said, as quoted by the Greek news agency ANA-MPA.

Moscovici reportedly added that a significant progress had been made in rescuing Greek economy which boded well for the upcoming second review of the Greek bailout program.

The EU Commissioner also noted he was pleased that despite the recent changes in the Greek government, Euclid Tsakalotos remained as the minister of finance.

The Greek economy has been severely strained for several years due to the country’s multibillion-euro debt, accumulated after the 2008 world financial crisis.