Τα αποσπάσματα της συνέντευξης τύπου της Langarde για την Ελλάδα.

QUESTION – I was wondering what your assessment and expectations are after the Eurogroup meeting ahead of the EU Summit about Greece, where the country stands and what the prospects are.MS LAGARDE – What I can tell you is that the work continues. We have a team on the ground fully committed, working very hard day and night, weekends included. They are going to continue doing that in order to resolve any differences, in order to address all the chapters of the Greek program.As you know, we are at the stage of a review where we clearly have a list of items for fiscal consolidation purposes. We also have to review the structural reforms that Greece has committed to implement. We also have to look at the financing and the debt situation of the country.From our perspective, all four chapters have to be looked at and we will spare no time or effort to actually do as much as we can in order to help Greece. Our purpose is to make sure that Greece is back on its feet, that it can one day return to markets, that it does not have the need for constant support, and that is what we are completely targeted for. We want to help the country and to help it stand on its own.QUESTION – I would like to ask some questions about the research that appeared in the World Economic Outlook about fiscal multipliers; first of all, which countries you think are particularly exposed to these large fiscal multipliers. Secondly, given that you are now expecting austerity to have a far more detrimental impact on growth, how will your policy prescriptions for the Eurozone and elsewhere change?MS. LAGARDE – I think you have had already part of the response from Olivier Blanchard, who is our Economic Counsellor, as you know, and who is the author of the World Economic Outlook. Just for the record, there is no difference between Olivier’s views and my views because we actually talked them through. What he gave you as a response is absolutely fine by my standards.The set of options which I think he went through last night as well is, No. 1, the fact that time is of the essence, meaning that instead of frontloading heavily, it is sometimes better, given circumstances and the fact that many countries at the same time go through that same set of policies with a view to reducing their deficit, it is sometimes better to have a bit more time. That is what we advocated for Portugal; this is what we advocated for Spain; and this is what we are advocating for Greece, where I said repeatedly that an additional two years was necessary for the country to actually face the Fiscal Consolidation Program that is considered. So, that is one component.Second, something that we have stated and that Olivier, I am sure, has indicated is that, in the circumstances and given the multiplier reassessment that we have produced, we do not think it is sensible to actually stick to nominal targets. We think it is much more appropriate to actually apply the measures and to let the stabilizers operate. Now, as far