Dijsselbloem: Greece elections does not violate bailout deal

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras organizing elections in Greece is not inconsistent with the new bailout agreement for the financially troubled country, according to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch Minister of Finance and Eurogroup Chairman.

"If all agreements in the support program are honored, it is of course permissible to hold elections", Dijssebloem said, according to NOS. He will rigorously ensure that the Greeks hold to all agreements. Dijsselbloem hopes that the elections will be held soon, adding that it would be silly to include in the agreements that the Greeks can not have an election.

On Thursday the CDA demanded clarification from Dijsselbloem on why the Dutch government heard so late that the Greek government were resigning and that elections would be held. Dijsselbloem stated that he did not know about the plans before the parliamentary debate on Wednesday and that he heard from his Greek counterpart during the course of the afternoon that elections would likely be announced later the afternoon. He added that he knew the possibility existed. "We knew there was opposition within the prime minister's party against the agreements".

The Minister stressed that a large majority in the Greek Parliament support the bailout and that he expects that the majority may grow.