Τελευταία Νέα

Greece’s to-do list

από | 6 Οκτ, 2015 | ENGLISH | 0 Σχόλια

To tap €2 billion in aid, Greece must first hit a series of reform milestones.

By Zeke Turner, Politico

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will need to reach almost 50 reform milestones later this month in order to keep the bailout money flowing.

Eurozone finance ministers meeting here Monday evening agreed Greece must continue implementing austerity measures, including tax increases for farmers, changes to personal bankruptcy rules, pension cuts and the privatization of state-owned utilities.

In exchange, Greece can borrow €2 billion from a loan package arranged with creditors in August and worth up to €86 billion.

Some of the measures should have been completed last month, according to the terms of the bailout, but were delayed by Greek elections.

“There were just elections, the government has just been formed, it’s too early to talk about there being a delay,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told reporters when he arrived.

In what has become a perverse ritual, Greece is expected to use some of the new money to repay old debts. The country faces an October 13 bill of €450 million on an existing loan from the International Monetary Fund connected to its first bailout program in 2010.

“A lot of work will have to be done in the coming months, so it’s very important to maintain that strong reform momentum,” Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters after the meeting.

Greece must agree to another set of milestones by the end of the month in order to unlock €1 billion more, Dijsselbloem said.

The country’s government is also working to revive its atrophied banking sector by year end, when stricter banking rules take effect. Results of a so-called stress test for banks are expected around October 25.

“It’s going to be challenging” for Greece to enact so many reforms before the new year, Dijsselbloem said.

The European Commission will double-check Greece’s efforts in a review expected to be completed by the end of November, European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said.

The review is an opportunity for the Commission and the eurozone finance ministers to talk about easing Greece’s debt load, a precondition to re-engage the IMF in the country’s economic reform program.

“The IMF can only put its next program in place when we have agreed to easing the debt burden,” Michel Sapin, the French finance minister, said in an interview with Bloomberg News ahead of the Monday meeting.

Greece was once again represented at the meeting by Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, who emerged as a soft-spoken and pragmatic replacement for Yannis Varoufakis. Tsakalotos made no comment to journalists upon arriving in Luxembourg, and simply presented his government’s policy priorities to the other finance ministers.

Meanwhile in Athens, Tsipras presented his new policy platform in a speech to the Parliament as part of a debate that will last until mid-week. The debate will conclude with a vote of confidence on Wednesday, a ritual for newly elected Greek premiers.

Tsipras won reelection by promising a parallel program to those imposed by his country’s creditors that would soften the blow of austerity measures — a 180-degree pivot from the anti-austerity that swept him into office for his first term.

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