EU 'not surprised' by Greece snap election call

(BRUSSELS) - The EU on Friday said the decision by Greek premier Alexis Tsipras to hold snap elections was "not a surprise" and that it remained confident the reforms promised by Athens would be implemented.

"The Commission respects the decision of Prime Minister Tsipras to go to the polls swiftly," said spokeswoman Annika Breidthardt.

"This was not a surprise, following the repeated phone calls" between commission head Jean-Claude Juncker, Tsipras and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, she added.

She declined however to say when the conversations had taken place and whether Tsipras had tipped off the commission in advance on his bid for a snap election.

The European Union's executive arm is overseeing Greece's third mammoth bailout along with the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, and is largely seen as the most open to the anti-austerity arguments put forward in Athens.

Tsipras announced his resignation on Thursday, the same day Greece received the first payment from its 86 billion euro ($96 billion) reforms-for-cash rescue, triggering early elections which are likely to take place on September 20.

In The Hague, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, urged Greece to hold the elections "swiftly, to lose as little time as possible."

"A large majority backed the measures in Greek parliament and we are waiting for this support to be even bigger (after the elections), but let's wait to see what happens," Dijsselbloem, who is also the Dutch finance minister, said after a cabinet meeting.