by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday that Greece is in a "very good" state now and that is the reason why the Commission decided to end the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) for the country, according to Greek national news agency AMNA.
The remark was made during a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at Thessaloniki in northern Greece shortly before a ceremony at the city's Concert Hall where Juncker was presented with an honorary doctorate from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Law.
The meeting was held a day after the European Commission announced the initiation of the process for ending EDP for Greece.
The Greek leader welcomed the step as a "very important message".
"We are very close to recovery, we are now determined to recover," he said, according to an e-mailed press release by his office.
Tsipras noted that the EDP for Greece had started in 2009, at the start of the Greek debt crisis, when the Greek deficit stood at 15.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
"Now it is 1.2 percent of GDP and the projections for 2018 are very optimistic. This is due to the immense efforts made by the Greek people, the sacrifices of the Greek people," he said.
