Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Dombrovskis stressed the need to look at “the conditionality of the debt and
not only at the debt ratio to understand the real cost of servicing the debt.”


Although Greece’s total public debt is the largest in the EU in terms of GDP, its relatively low interest rates should also be taken into consideration, the commissioner argued.


On concerns expressed by the International Monetary Fund on the sustainability of Greece’s debt, Dombrovskis said that euro-zone loans “are not an immediate problem” given that they have long grace periods: to 2020 for interest and 2023 for capital.


In a report leaked on Tuesday, the IMF said that the euro zone should go much further than foreseen in alleviating Greece’s debt burden, including considering pardoning a part of it. Greece’s debt, it said, is “totally unsustainable” and is set to swell as a proportion of GDP to 200 percent in the next two years.


The European Commission on Wednesday proposed that emergency bridging finance be arranged for Greece from the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, to which all 28 EU member states contribute, although some non-euro-zone states have rejected the idea.