Brussels, 04/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 July, Greece was optimistic about the outcome of the troika's fact-finding mission (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund), which is critical for ensuring the disbursement of the country's financing for the next three months. Greece's lenders highlighted the scale and difficulty of the work to be carried out, stressing the need to conclude the fact-finding mission by Monday 8 July, in time for the Eurogroup meeting, even if that means spending all weekend doing so.
The Greek government is relentlessly optimistic, with the finance and administrative reform ministers saying they would be ready on Monday for the Eurogroup to endorse the next disbursement of aid before the summer break. As per policy, the European Commission refused to comment on the current fact-finding mission, simply stating that work had been carried out to achieve a positive outcome. Some sources, however, were recommending taking Greek statements with a pinch of salt because a lot of work needs to be done due to the delays caused by the political instability that recently rocked the government.
The talks are focussing on reform of the public sector which, like privatisation, is in the doldrums. Some 12,500 civil servants were due to join a mobility scheme by the end of June, but this was not achieved. The fact-finders in Athens do not seem likely to make many moves in the direction of the government in terms of the objectives to be achieved and the proposals unveiled by the government. Reuters reports that as far as the Greek authorities are concerned, the troika's demands cannot be met in the immediate term. The administrative reform minister, Kyriacos Mitsotakis, has proposed to speed up the process for dismissing officials found guilty of serious faults.
A European source said it was in the interest of the Greek government to reach agreement with the troika by Monday, because it is expensive to raise finance on the medium-term money markets to cover ordinary government expenditure. Athens needs to repay €2.2 billion-worth of bonds in August, but the eurozone's loans might be suspended until the autumn.
Rumblings at the EESC. The president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Henri Malosse, criticised: “mechanical application of accounting rules stems from the mistaken principle that the member states' difficulties are all due to the same cause”. He said: “The EU also bears a large part of the blame for having put the cart before the horse - a single currency without convergence between economic, budgetary, social and fiscal policies. And it is the weakest countries which are now paying the highest price”. He called for “a practical policy to apply the levers of growth” and for solidarity to be the natural approach. (EL/transl.fl)