Brussels, 21/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Greek budget for 2014 was presented to the country's parliament on Thursday 21 November, but there is not yet full agreement on all aspects of it with the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and international Monetary Fund), explained the European Commission on Thursday, adding that the troika had temporarily suspended its assessment mission and left Athens.
The troika announced the decision to leave the Greek capital: “Good progress has been made, but a few issues remain outstanding. The discussions will continue from respective headquarters. The European Commission, ECB and IMF staff teams expect to return to Athens in early December”. Simon O'Connor, spokesman for Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn, said that, as far as the Commission was concerned, extra talks would be needed: “We said there was progress last time because there has been and there has been further progress, we need further work before we can say an agreement has been reached, one of the issues is the fiscal gap. From our point of view further discussions need to take place before we can say that we're fully in agreement with it”.
One question to be settled is the budget gap for 2014. The government has unveiled a €1.3 billion package of extra cuts to this effect, and O'Connor admitted that progress had been made: “We will have to see in the coming weeks how this evolves, and should it turn out that there is a need for further adjustments to the budget, it is of course possible for Greece to submit them. We understand the government will be glad to do so if necessary”. The troika mission has not been interrupted as such, but the troika representatives will only return to Athens after further talks.
Greece is not officially on the agenda of the Eurogroup meeting on Friday (see related article). The head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, may bring the subject up if he feels it is needed, but his team thinks that unlikely. He may ask the troika for further information, but nothing official is expected. In Greek newspaper Ta Nea, Dijsselbloem calls on Athens to keep its commitments, warning that the eurozone is “beginning to run out of patience”. The day before her meeting with the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the efforts that have been made by Greece.
The Greek budget forecasts a primary budget surplus of €812 million in 2013 and €2.9 billion in 2014. The country's debt is expected to fall from 175.5% of GDP in 2013 to 174.8% in 2014, and unemployment is expected to fall from 25.5% in 2013 to 24.5% in 2014. (EL/transl.fl)