Brussels, 04/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Greek authorities and their lenders made progress over the weekend and the talks will continue at the Brussels Group (Greece, European Commission, ECB, IMF, EFSF) until Wednesday, explained the European Commission on Monday 4 May. Despite the positive noises here and there, a number of sources indicate that little has been achieved in terms of substance.
The atmosphere has improved in the Brussels Group talks and the Greeks are now sticking to the task (a constant demand from the lenders), but little has changed on the most troublesome issues, such as the demands from the start for reform of pensions and the labour market. The Greek press reports that the country seems to hope an initial agreement will be forthcoming this week, to enable Eurogroup to send a positive signal, but there is the fear that if agreement is not reached on Wednesday, the ECB at its meeting on Thursday may decide to reduce the emergency lending for Greek banks.
“We believe our red lines are for the benefit of the economy and society,” said Greek government spokesperson Gabriel Sakellaridis on Monday. Over the weekend, labour minister Panos Skourletis said on Mega TV that the IMF was putting too much emphasis on reform of the labour market and cutting retirement pensions. 'They (the IMF) are asking us to not touch anything (from the austerity measures) that have ruined Greek people's lives in the last five years,” he said.
Sakellaridis is quoted by MNI as saying on Monday that the institutions didn't take the same line as the IMF on this point. “As regards perceived differences of opinions between the three institutions: this sounds to me like an excuse. While there may be minor differences (there always are in such circumstances but they have no material effect on the talks), these differences, if they even exist, are a thousand times smaller than the differences between the three institutions and the Greek authorities,” explained a source for the institutions. The European Commission reportedly seems to take a different view from the IMF's hard line on reform of pensions and the labour market.
Several sources have ruled out any likelihood of the Brussels Group intervening this week. The Greek government hopes an overall deal will be reached by the end of May or June. Once agreement has been reached on the outcome of the final institutions' monitoring mission, arrangements for following Greece's exit from its second bailout will need to be discussed before the programme expires at the end of June.
With new IMF loan payment deadlines looming, the Greek government said it was committed to meetings its financial obligations. “We have proved that we aim to meet all our debt service obligations on time,” said Sakellaridis, adding that the government was doing its utmost to avoid having to choose between paying it lenders or paying pensions and public sector pay. He said that the question of liquidity had to be considered in the light of progress in the negotiations. (Elodie Lamer)