Brussels, 14/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - Representatives of the troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) temporarily left Athens on Thursday 14 March 2013 to “allow the technical work to continue”, said Simon O'Connor, spokesman for Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn. O'Connor said nothing would be affected by their leaving, but the media reports suggest that the troika is unable to reach agreement with the Greek government.
The Commission says the reforms have surpassed expectations in many areas, but a lot remains to be done to achieve the objectives. Neither the Commission nor the Greek finance ministry are concerned about payment of the next batch of aid, €2.8 billion at the end of the month. O'Connor said it would not be affected, adding that the Greek government was working on variouis aspects of the aid criteria. Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said “technical matters” needed to be resolved, reports Greek newspaper Ekathimerini, adding that the most recent talks had been about civil servant redundancies. The troika will return to Athens at the start of April.
Troika's approach comes under fire. Researach by the International Finance Institute (IFI), published on Thursday, says the targets set by the troika for the second Greek bailout are unachievable and called for a relaxing of the demands and additional funding. The final cost of the bailout is expected to be much less than the cost of the continuing recession.
On Thursday, the European Commission's Economic Affairs department was occupied by demonstrators from the “For a European Spring” movement, who criticise the austerity policies for “destroying hard fought-for historical social rights”. (EL/transl.fl)