Brussels, 18/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said that he is dissatisfied with the progress made on the Greek dossier and has called on all parties to “stand resolute”. Technical talks between Greece and the three institutions (Commission, ECB and IMF) “are making no progress”, according to a diplomat. However, Greece is not believed to have the wherewithal to hold up financially until May.
It is against this backdrop, therefore, that the head of cabinet of Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, tabled the idea, a few days ago, of discussing the Greek dossier at the European Council of Thursday 19 and Friday 20 March. Initially, Greece was not calling for this, but has seized the opportunity offered by the Tusk cabinet. On Wednesday afternoon, the format of this discussion was still the subject of consultations, but the most likely option is a meeting, after the dinner on Thursday evening, between the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Presidents of France, François Hollande, the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the ECB, Mario Draghi. This format is not to the liking of some of the delegations which will not be party to the talks, on the grounds that the subject is of interest to the whole of the eurozone. However, a summit of all eurozone countries, without any preparations, would be difficult to pull off, a source explained. The leaders are also curious to know Tsipras' intentions. He will visit Russia on 8 April, but the government has denied that it plans to ask for funding.
In a telephone conference between experts of the euro working group of the Council, on Tuesday evening, criticism is reported to have been forthcoming. The IMF is reported to have said that Greece was the most unhelpful client it had seen in 70 years, according to Bloomberg. The three institutions are also said to have complained at the fact that the Greek authorities were not cooperating, whilst the Germans reportedly said that trying to persuade the Greeks to put together a rigourous economic policy programme was like trying to ride a dead horse, also according to Bloomberg.
On Wednesday, the Greek government pushed its first law on a package of measures to fight the humanitarian crisis through Parliament. In so doing, it had the support of the Conservatives of New Democracy and the Socialists of Pasok. The Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, denied that the Commission would veto this package of measures. In a letter from the Commission's representative in the technical discussions, Declan Costello, the Greeks were urged to hold the proper consultations before passing the package. “Doing otherwise would be proceeding unilaterally and in a piecemeal manner that is inconsistent with the commitments made”, Costello wrote in a letter published by Channel 4 News. The humanitarian bill is a “good prospect”, Moscovici said, but the Commission still needs to assess the budgetary impact of these measures. (Elodie Lamer)