The finance ministers of the eurozone lean again on Greece in Brussels on Monday to try to find a difficult agreement which would avoid another serious crisis on reforms and financial assistance to the country.
this extraordinary meeting comes as the reforms demanded in return for massive financial aid to the summer of 2015 have still not received satisfecit creditors (EU and IMF) after ten months of discussions, which blocks all new payment.
the country has “almost reached” its reform goals, said the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in an interview to be published Sunday in several German newspapers.
the 19 finance ministers of the Eurogroup are also under pressure from the International monetary Fund (IMF) making it a condition to join the aid plan, discuss ways to alleviate the Greek debt abysmal ( 180% of GDP).
Mr. Juncker, however, recalled that an outright debt reduction is not the order of the day.
Greece, which Parliament must approve Sunday after 48-hour general strike, two Key measures of the third aid plan of 86 billion euros – the pension reform and tax – needs an agreement of the euro area so that new funds can be released
.
the country has so far received 21.4 billion euros, and is facing a maturity of 2.3 billion to the European Central Bank (ECB) on 20 July.
Saturday, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalatos, warned his European counterparts against “Greek crisis” in a letter obtained by AFP
-. “Turning the page” –
He urges the Eurogroup, to be held Monday from 1300 GMT in Brussels to give green light to reforms, “which would help the country (to find) investor confidence and recovery “and would signal that” Greece has turned the page and that the country is not at risk, at last! “.
But differences remain deep, aggravated by differences of opinion between the EU and IMF on the treatment to be administered to the Greek economy in order to meet the goal of a primary budget surplus (before interest payments on debt) at 3.5% of GDP in 2018.
This target is considered too ambitious by the IMF, unless additional austerity measures are passed now.
But Athens promises to get there and prefers ensure that, where appropriate, new cuts in public spending will be triggered automatically if the target is not reached.
“not very credible” or even “desirable” as it would further jeopardize an already failing public service, found the general manager of the Fund, Christine Lagarde, in a letter to the 19 ministers consulted by AFP.
Meanwhile, Greece seems to take for granted the support of European institutions on its “automatic mechanism permanent correction of public finances “
-. the EU in fear of ‘Brexit’ –
” I do not see how such a mechanism associated with the reform package (already underway), would be more than enough “to open the way for the release of a new tranche of aid, pleaded Saturday Mr. Tsakalatos in his mail.
with the support of his counterpart french Michel Sapin, he completely rejected in April the demands of the IMF, which recommended the adoption by the Greek parliament of new savings measures for a further three billion euros.
the Fund has But pushed in the direction of left government of Alexis Tsipras getting creditors finally begin the debate on debt relief, ardently sought by Athens.
last week, the European Commissioner for economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, assured not see “no reason” to fear a “crisis scenario” comparable to 2015, when Greece had brushed out of the euro zone.
“This year we n ‘have no great Greek crisis “, also wanted to reassure the German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble.
as expressed by the European Council President Donald Tusk on 3 May, the leaders of the EU want a deal “very quickly” on Greece. They live this spring in fear of a possible release of UK Union (a “Brexit”) and wish to evacuate Greek negotiations before the British dreaded vote of June 23
No comments:
Post a Comment