I have been informed that the Eurogroup Working Group on 2 March verified that all prior actions of the third review of the Greek ESM programme have been completed.

The full implementation of the prior actions confirms the commitment of the Greek government to the programme and a continued reform effort.

The ESM Board of Directors is expected to approve the disbursement of the fourth tranche of the ESM programme after national parliamentary procedures have been completed.

This will pave the way to the release of the first subtranche of €5.7bn in the second half of March.

We have now entered the final lap of the ESM Greek programme. The fourth and final review is ongoing. So is the technical work of possible new debt relief measures.

Greece has started its return to market financing and the Greek government is working on a long-term growth strategy, which will be critical to define the post-programme framework.

I’m confident this will help Greece to return to an equal footing with its European partners and leave crisis days behind.