Lithuania gives green light to Greek bailout

Lithuanian government approved on Monday the Baltic country's support to Greek bailout package from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

According to the EU's agreement, Greece will receive up to 86 billion euros from the ESM in a three-year period, in exchange for harsh austerity terms.

Lithuanian approval was issued given that Athens had met the preconditions for the bailout and agreed a specific reform plan with creditor institutions, the government said in a press release.

Rimantas Sadzius, Lithuanian minister of finance, said after government's meeting that the decisions made by Greece on reforms showed that the troubled country was ready to adhere to long-term policy.

However, the EU and the euro area will need guarantees in order for Athens to get the full amount of bailout package, Sadzius added.

"It's difficult to tell anything about political developments in Greece in the future, in particular as there are talks about early elections," Sadzius was quoted as saying by BNS news agency.

Creditors would check Greece's compliance with commitments each time before transferring money, he added.

The minister insists that all the money will be provided to Greece from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), thus none of the euro area member states will have to contribute additional funds or pay more to the ESM than they currently do.

Sadzius will present Lithuanian position at the meetings of ESM Board of Governors and the Board of Directors in Brussels on Wednesday.

The first part of assistance, 26 billion euros, should be transferred to Greece on 20 August.

Lithuania joined the euro zone on January 1, 2015. As the newest member of the monetary bloc, Lithuania this year started to contribute to ESM. The country's payment of paid-in capital to the ESM will be made in five annual installments of more than 65.4 million euros each. Endit