Mário Centeno

Vacationers huddling on ships and aircraft for a visit to some Greek summer paradise will be exposed without any shield to the new subvariants of the virus.

Since the new sub-variants are evading vaccines and new vaccines are still delayed, it seems that the only protective measures against the coronavirus are masks, distances and hygiene rules.

Although debt is higher due to the "shock" of the pandemic, there is no fundamental reason to think of a debt crisis, according to the president of the Central Bank of Portugal, Mario Centeno, in an interview with "NEA", underscoring that the current European institutional framework is stronger and the policies are coordinated, while member states have also taken steps to reduce risk.

The growing uncertainty about rising consumer prices require close monitoring by the European Central Bank, which sees it as a temporary trend, but it must be prepared to act sharply and flexibly, ECB Governing Council member Mario Centeno said, quoted by Reuters.

Eurozone finance ministers will start on Thursday a month-long process of choosing their next chairman to replace Portugal's Mario Centeno who will step down in July, with ministers from Spain, Luxembourg and Ireland among possible candidates.

European officials praised on Friday Greece's response to the health crisis and stressed that the country will be in the same position as its eurozone peers in the terms of the support it receives from the European Union.

Following Friday's agreement by eurozone finance ministers, Greece stands to receive low-interest loans from the emergency credit line of the European Stability Mechanism without any of the heavy conditions it had to meet in the 2010s.

Eurozone governments gave their final approval on Friday to the first part of a 540 billion-euro rescue plan for states hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, although other elements of the rescue package have yet to be agreed on.

As European countries brace for the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the president of the eurozone group of finance ministers known as the Eurogroup, Mario Centeno, in an interview with five European newspapers including Kathimerini, has underlined the need for "a suitable mix of grants and loans in the recovery," warning of a new crisis if adequate support is not provided. 

Albeit at the last minute, eurozone countries managed to strike a compromise on an economic package to handle the enormous repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a previous editorial we had underlined that there was no other choice unless member-states want the breakup of the eurozone.

Governments from the 19 countries that use the euro agreed on Thursday on a package of measures that could provide more than a half-trillion euros ($550 billion) for companies, workers and health systems to cushion the economic impact of the virus outbreak.