After a savage financial crisis that almost brought Greece to its knees in 2015, Athens is no longer under a bailout programme. However, as part of a deal it signed last year, it needs to implement new reforms in exchange for debt relief. The mediterranean country is now scrambling to deliver 16 commitments after it failed to meet its 2018 deadline for reform.
An EU official with knowledge of the situation, who preferred to remain anonymous, told CNBC over the phone last week: “They are behind schedule on what they need to deliver.”
In response to the claim, Greece’s Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told CNBC the reforms will be ready by March 11 and an upcoming report on Greece‘s progress will also be published by then.
Even though there are finally signs of recovery, the outlook for Athens is still not bright as the country has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the EU.
According to pro-EU businessman George Soros, Greece will never be able to fully recover as long as it is a member of the eurozone because it will never be able to repay its debt.
In a 2016 interview with Wirtschaftswoche magazine, Mr Soros criticised the austerity policies imposed on Greece by Germany after the financial crisis broke out.
He told the publication: “When the Greek crisis broke out for good in 2009, the EU, under the leadership of Germany, gave a helping hand but Greece had to pay a high price.
“The country was asked to pay excessively high interest rates making it impossible to serve the Greek debt.
“Unfortunately, the Germans repeated the mistake during the last negotiations.
“Again, they imposed conditions that brought [Greece] closer to bankruptcy.
“Greece will never be able to repay its debt.”
When asked if Greece is a good place for private investment, Mr Soros firmly answered: “Not as long as Greece is a member of the eurozone.
“With the euro, the country will never be able to recover, because the exchange rate is too high and the country is not competitive.”
The Hungarian-born currency speculator, now a US citizen, has often attacked Germany and its Chancellor Angela Merkel over the years.
At the height of the European financial crisis in 2011, Mr Soros argued that the German Chancellor’s decision to block a joint EU guarantee was the “root cause” of the problem.
He also suggested that Berlin benefited from the euro crisis, as it “depressed the exchange rate and boosted its competitiveness further”.
Mr Soros became known as the “man who broke the Bank of England” after he bet against the pound in 1992, forcing Britain out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.