E.U. Reaches €8.5 Billion Debt Deal for Greece<br />By JAMES KANTER and NIKI KITSANTONISJUNE 15, 2017<br />LUXEMBOURG — European Union officials agreed on Thursday to unlock loans of 8.5 billion<br />euros for Greece, to ensure the country meets huge payments on its debt next month.<br />The plans outlined on Thursday night were part of efforts to get Greece standing "on its own feet again." Christine Lagarde, the managing director of<br />the I.M.F., said she was prepared to recommend joining the bailout even though there was still work to do on how to ease the country’s debt burden.<br />The deal, reached by eurozone finance ministers, will ensure<br />that Greece can pay about €7 billion, or $7.9 billion, next month on its towering pile of loans.<br />Germany, the currency area’s largest economy and its de facto leader, will hold national elections in September,<br />and the country’s leaders, including the hard-line Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, have shown little appetite to be specific about which concessions Greece were promised.<br />European authorities have agreed to disburse $8.4 billion in fresh funds to<br />Greece, allowing the country to keep paying its bills in the coming months.<br />On one side, several eurozone countries led by Germany want Athens to carry out what they view as<br />reforms before specifying debt concessions that could go into force next year at the earliest.
