Greece has received a much needed financial life-line from eurozone finance ministers who agreed to the release of another €6.8bn in bailout funds at their meeting in Brussels tonight.
However, the EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, has warned that Greece needs to step up the momentum of reform.
The latest tranche, which will be followed-up by the International Monetary Fund will be welcomed in Athens, but the money will not last a long time.
And before further funds will be released, the Greek government will have to abide by severe conditions - including a demand that 4,000 public service workers lose their jobs before the end of the year.
Mr Rehn kept-up the pressure saying the momentum of reform needed to be stepped up in Greece for the sake of sustainable growth and job creation.
Yet that's hard to swallow for Greeks experiencing a sixth year of recession; 27% unemployment; and who have already been hit by large salary and pension cuts as well as repeated tax hikes.
Political difficulties in Portugal
At today’s meeting there will also be significant attention on the new Portuguese finance minister whose perceived strong support for austerity policies nearly resulted in the junior coalition party pulling out of government.
Regarding the political difficulties in Portugal last week, Mr Noonan said it appeared the coalition appeared to be moving forward again now.
However, he said he was "very sorry" to see that his colleague Vitor Gaspar had resigned last week.
He said they worked "very closely" together on the extension of loan maturities for Ireland and Portugal and he was "a very good colleague".
Mr Noonan added that Mr Gaspar's replacement, Maria Luís Albuquerque, had attended most of the eurogroup meetings over the past two years, and so would be well acquainted with the topics.
In a deal cobbled together over the weekend, it appears Prime Minister Passos Coelho prevented collapse by giving junior coalition party leader, Paulo Portas, increased powers, including a significant role in implementing Portugal's bailout programme.
Given many observers believe the change could result in a slowdown in the implementation of bailout terms, the comments of the new Portuguese finance minister will be watched very closely.
