Brussels, 09/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The troika of international lenders to Greece will be in Athens next week, the European Commission said on Monday 9 September.
The new troika assessment will examine implementation of the country's structural adjustment programme by the Greek government and the country's public finances, explained a spokesperson for Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn that same day. The Commission is not expected to comment on the detail of a possible third aid plan until after the troika mission.
There are discordant noises being made in Athens, Frankfurt and Brussels on what Greece would be expected to do in return for the eurozone to keep its promise of providing support beyond the end of the current aid programme until the country returns to the capital markets unaided. At the weekend, the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, sent a strong message from Thessalonica, saying: “There will be no need for any new (Ed: austerity) measures beyond what has already been agreed”. On Monday, the Greek finance minister, Yiannis Stournaras ,echoed this on radio Vima FM.
The Commission is refusing to comment in order to avoid speculation, but Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank said last week, loud and clear, that any extension to the aid programme would require additional “conditionality”. The head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, told the European Parliament that it was too early to talk of how any potential new programme will look or what the conditions attached to it will be (see EUROPE 10915).
The Greek government may decide to request a “precautionary conditional credit line” from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), says Greek newspaper Kathimerini, quoting unnamed European sources. This will not be easy, given the high eligibility criteria (budget stability and a healthy bank system) for such credit from the ESM.
The next assessment report from the troika will coincide with the start of talks on how to fill the financing gap that Stournaras suggests will be €10.5 billion for the end of 2014 and 2015. The International Monetary Fund would like the talks to reach a conclusion by the end of this year. Talks on the Greek debt will begin next spring, when the results of the Greek budget plan and the country's capacity to make a primary surplus (not including debt repayment costs) are known. Samaras said: “Debt levels will be manageable, Greece has respected its commitments and now, the creditors must also respect what was agreed”. (EL/transl.fl)