Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said that for the first time there was belief in EU institutions that Greece was capable to deal with economical and financial crisis. After the Eurogroup meeting that was held on January 21 Stournaras said that there was strong sentiment that Greece could handle with the crisis.

“For the first time in Eurogroup Greece was not spoken about in a negative manner“, the minister told in Greek Parlaiment yesterday.

“There is great hope and optimism that Greece will make it, which is obvious from the speeches of ministers. There is a sense of prevailing optimism after a long time about the situation in the eurozone. There is a reduction in the spreads, as the difference in rates has dropped to the levels of 2010. But this will not distract me; we have just reduced the speed with which we are heading toward the rocks. We are now trying to turn the ship around.”

Eurogroup has decided to approve the disbursement of 9.2 billion euros in bailout funding. Still, Greece`s debt remains the largest of all EU members: in the July-to-September period, Greek debt amounted to 301 billion euros, or 152.6 percent of GDP. On an annual basis the Greek debt went down by 11 percentage points thanks to the debt restructuring (PSI) last spring. Compared with the second quarter, however, it went up by 3.4 percent of GDP.

On the other hand, there are opinions that suggest that the crisis in Greece is far from over and that country faces year of destiny. Minister Stournaras has said earlier that Greece could make it only if government stick to the programme which was agreed with EU and IMF.

Debt crisis shooked Greece, EU and financial markets in 2009.