EU-IMF gives Greece until next week to 'implement' reforms

Greece's international creditors warned late Monday the government in Athens must show it can deliver on agreed reforms by October 18, the start of next week's two-day EU summit. Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said eurozone ministers agreed in talks attended by the IMF that "before the next disbursement," worth 31.5 billion euros ($40.6 billion), the Greek government "should demonstrate" that it can "implement" planned reforms such as privatisations "by 18 October at the latest." "Acting means acting," International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said during a press conference in Luxembourg, adding that this means "not just speaking." A day before German Chancellor Angela Merkel lands in Athens, Lagarde, whose IMF inspectors are key figures in the Troika of international lenders with the European Commission and the European Central Bank, said "the list of prior actions has to be implemented." She was referring to a host of reforms, from privatisations to changes to labour law, and stressed that "the whole set of requirements has to be assessed" under a long-extended Troika review of progress in Greece.