The measures will “lock”, the suspense will continue

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, and the leaders of the Troika (EU, ECB, IMF) reached an initial agreement on the objectives and measures of 2011 and 2012 in the teleconference that ended shortly before midnight.

According to a statement issued by the ministry, "there has been satisfactory progress" on key points. However, the technical teams are still processing the data, not only on the closure of the 2011 budget and the preparation of the one for 2012, but also for 2013 and 2014, i.e. for the entire duration of the mid-term program. 

According to information, they have already "locked" measures such as the gradual dismissal of 100.000 public employees, while an additional 50.000 will be put on redundancy directly. The equation of the tax on heating oil with that of fuel oil was also finalized, a development that is estimated to surcharge each household by at least another 500 euros on average. 

However, the key for any further developments will be the Venizelos trip to Washington this weekend. He will participate in the annual meeting of the IMF, which is expected to discuss the "Greek problem", and will have extensive discussions with Lagarde, Rehn and Trichet. 

The Troika heads are expected to return to Athens early next week to resolve the urgent measures that must be "locked"measures which, reportedly and especially after the dramatic changes in the last Eurogroup meeting, will be taken to fill the black hole of more than 2 billion euros for 2012. 

Apart from the sweeping dismissals of workers in the broader public sector, there will be major scaled reductions in pensions, with larger cuts at the highest levels and for those who retired at a relatively young age. According to information, the cuts will be implemented in public utilities and pensions, but the private sector will not remain untouched. The argument already heard is that "since the state participates in the tripartite funding for the payment of pensions, it must have an active role in shaping them." 

The same fate is expected for supplementary pensions. The cuts will take full effect from November 1. 

Finally, proposals have been made for the reduction of tax exemption for wage earners and traders from 8.000 euros to 4.000, not excluding the complete abolition of tax exemption, especially for professionals, who might even see the return of objective criteria, as well as increases in excise duties on oil prices, while the cuts according to the single pay scale will apply from October 1 retroactively.