The Greek government, which sent Saturday a delegation to Brussels new proposals, said he was ready to find “a difficult compromise” with its creditors, the EU and IMF, to ensure continued funding of Greece and avoid it the default.
“If we reach a viable agreement, even if the compromise is difficult, we will meet this challenge because our only criteria is the exit from the crisis, “said the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, at a Friday night meeting with his employees. Such was quoted Saturday in a government statement, suggesting that Greece is possibly willing to make further concessions.
“We have an agreement,” said Saturday morning at the Skai TV the Minister Deputy Greek Finance Dimitris Mardas. “The fact that the Greek delegation is in Brussels is a good sign,” said he said.
This delegation includes Ioannis Dragassakis, discreet chief negotiator of the Greek government, of Euclid Tsakalotos, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Nikos Pappas, the right arm of Alexis Tsipras.
Arriving at midday in Brussels, they began in the late afternoon a meeting with representatives of the IMF, the ECB and the ESM – the financial crisis management system of the euro area. – according to a European source
The presence of the IMF is especially important as it ‘ is the institution of Washington, even more than his other creditors, the Greek government must be understood quickly. June 30, Athens must indeed repay 1.6 billion euros of IMF loans, and doubts remain about its ability to meet that deadline without the release of 7.2 billion remaining to be paid in the framework of its aid plan.
But the release of this assistance depends on the implementation of reforms that Athens and its creditors écharpent for nearly four months. The IMF had put a damper on Thursday asserting that “major” differences remained and that an agreement still seemed far away.
According to the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, tensions would also emerged in days last between the IMF and the Commission. The IMF had “torpedoed” a compromise agreement submitted by the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and providing for a deferral of pension cuts in exchange for equivalent efforts on the military budget. The Greek government has repeatedly denounced discrepancies between his creditors
-. Solution “mutually beneficial” –
The main point on which negotiators focus is the level primary budget surplus (calculated excluding debt service), which determines the amount of savings or additional revenues to achieve in the country.
The creditors demand it reaches 1% this year, and the Greeks have proposed so far 0.75%. According to the Greek financial daily Naftéromporiki, they could offer 0.9%, a level that would be achieved by eliminating the reduction of VAT applied in the Greek islands.
In exchange, the Greek government wants an agreement “viable “that is to say the continued funding of the country after the expiration of his aid package on June 30 He hopes in particular gain access to unused funds, such as for banks (10.9 billion euros). The Greek authorities also want a commitment by creditors to discuss a restructuring of the debt, which is projected at 180% this year.
The discussions could last several days, but time and Ideally an agreement by Thursday, the date of the next meeting of finance ministers of the eurozone, which will have to approve unanimously. Some national parliaments will then give the green light to the disbursement of aid.
Given the urgency of deadlines, the euro area discussed for the first time this week the possibility that Greece will default, what could be the prelude to “Grexit”, the output of countries in the euro area.
The Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, Saturday called for a solution “mutually beneficial” which “plays not on the scenario of fragmentation “of the eurozone. “I think that no European politician or bureaucrat will not enter on the path” of a Greek default, he has said.
In Berlin, the German Ministry of Finance has indicated that it “focused its efforts on settlement” of the Greek crisis, saying do not work on a plan in the event of default
06/14/2015 7:57:49. – Brussels (AFP ) – By Céline Hélène Loubette COLLIOPOULOU in Athens – AFP © 2015
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