13:32

Greece has won rare praise today from EU commission’s chief spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, fuelling hopes that debt relief talks could soon be in the offing. Helena Smith reports from Athens:

Four days after MPs endorsed more biting austerity measures and reforms in a rowdy parliamentary vote, Greece’s fiscal progress was roundly applauded by the man more usually associated with tough words for the country.

Margaritis Schinas

In an interview with state-run ERT TV, EU commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas described the bailout compliance review Athens is currently conducting with creditors as a “model review” that was “going very well.”

“Everyone wants Greece to stand firmly on its feet,” he said, insisting it was imperative that forces inside the country supported the corrective economic adjustment reforms that had been legislated under international economic supervision under the three emergency rescue programmes Athens had received.

Now that the latest bailout review was about to be concluded – with eurozone finance ministers expected to unlock up to €6bn in aid for the country when they meet in Brussels on Monday - discussion on Greece’s post-bailout era could begin, he said. “From September, the political winds in Europe have changed,” Schinas said.

“For the first time all of our economies are in growth … and the euro is regaining its place as an anchor of stability on the world scene.”