No Quarter for Greece on Bank Recap as Euro Area Plays Tough

Funds for recapitalization tied to country meeting conditions
Finance ministers tell Tsipras not to ease up on reforms

Alexis Tsipras, Greece's prime minister, during a handover meeting with Vasiliki Thanou, Greece's interim prime minister, at Maximos mansion in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 21, 2015.
Photographer: Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg

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By Rebecca Christie, Karl Stagno Navarra and Corina Ruhe

October 5, 2015 at 2:39 PM UTC

Updated on

October 6, 2015 at 8:21 AM UTC

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Greece shouldn’t expect the euro area to relax bailout requirements to meet next month’s deadline for unlocking money to recapitalize its banking system, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said.

Officials in Athens should successfully navigate the first review of the 86 billion-euro ($97 billion) rescue program before the euro area will release banking funds or consider measures to ease Greece’s debt burden, Dijsselbloem said at the conclusion of a meeting of euro-area finance ministers in Luxembourg. It’s essential for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to move quickly on all the required reforms, including financial-sector governance and an overhaul of its pension reforms, he said.