Stournaras’ attempts to ease troika pressure

The Greek government wants to break the resistance of the auditors and find points of convergence with its proposals. The consultation with the technical teams continue today to pave the way for a final agreement which will have to pass first by the prime minister.

 

Already from last night, after the meeting with Samaras, Stournaras had telephone communications with Brussels for an agreement with the heads of the European Commission auditors and to reassure them that the entanglement will be surpassed, but asking for their intervention to ease their requirements.

 

However, the government wants to stop today the moving around of the technical teams in order for Samaras’ meeting with the troikans to take place. Any postponement would transfer the meeting beyond Friday, after Samaras’ return from the Summit, while postponing the evaluation and granting of the March tranche of 2.8 billion euros.

 

In contrast, it is believed that an intervention from Brussels and Washington would ensure disengagement in the negotiations. What is in danger here is not the tranche, since most open fronts do not involve memorandum requirements, but the renegotiation for the Greek side’s requests.

 

However, all issues should be clarified by noon. For Samaras’ meeting to take place today, the troika technical teams should stop asking for additional and more detailed figures about the impact of the Greek proposals.

 

The problems that hold back the negotiations are mainly:

 

-       settlement of debts to tax authorities and social security funds

-       settlement of debts to banks

-       the course of suspension in the public sector

-       enforcement of the special real estate tax collected via PPC for another year, while the plan to reduce VAT in catering has almost failed, almost before even being presented.