Brussels, 04/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 4 November, the European Commission confirmed that the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) will be back at work this week with the Greek government in Athens, work that had been halted at the end of September.
Simon O'Connor, a spokesman for the EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner, said that on Friday evening the Commission had received the information it needed from the Greek government to send the assessment mission back to Athens, following its withdrawal at the end of September, adding that the Commission needed the information to hold productive discussions. On 25 October, O'Connor told this newsletter that the troika mission depended on the receipt of the requested information (see EUROPE 10951). On Monday, he said the information was mainly about the budget, like how to fill the budget gap, the scale of which was until recently a bone of contention between Athens and the troika. The troika says that the gap could be more than €2 billion, but the Greek government says it will be €500 million. The troika said that Greece was over-optimistic about expected tax receipts. It is not clear at this stage whether they have moved towards agreement on the size of the budget gap. Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras will meet troika representatives on Tuesday and was confident over the weekend. “There are solutions for all the matters, as long as there is realism, flexibility and common sense on all sides”, Stournaras told Greek newspaper Kathimerini. The Greek government has said for a long time that further cuts in pay and pensions are not possible. The same newspaper says that its sources comment that the government's arguments are based on better tax collection this year, the weaker than forecast economic recession and the new salary structure which, when applied across the civil service, will lead to savings of €500 million.
Aid of €3.1 billion from the eurozone and €1.8 billion from the IMF depend on the outcome of the troika mission, but the amounts are still subject to change. Greece is still waiting for half a billion euro, half of it from the EFSF and the rest paid by central banks in the Eurosystem, but three “prior actions” need to be introduced first. Greek media say that the privatisation programme, which has failed to meet its targets this year, is expected to be discussed by the mission. The parties need to agree on how the country is to be financed when money runs out in the summer of 2014. For two months now, the IMF has broken its rule of financing being ensured for the following 12 months for programmes in which it participates and for payment of aid to be constitutional upon this 12-month visibility. Eurozone finance ministers are not expected to address this until December. (EL/transl.fl)