Brussels, 27//05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 27 May, Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told a small group of reporters that the European Commission was working intensively with the other institutions (ECB and IMF) and Greece to ensure a staff level agreement is reached as soon as possible, “but we're still not there”.
Dombrovskis said that the parties had to be able to negotiate in a timely fashion what will happen after the end of the current aid plan. “We have every reason to hurry”, he pointed out, adding that the parties were lagging behind schedule.
Earlier in the day, according to anonymous sources quoted in the Greek media, the Greek government announced that it was drawing up a staff level agreement with the three institutions.
At a press conference after the meeting of the College of EU Commissioners, Dombrovskis drew up a list of the questions that still need to be discussed, such as fiscal targets and pension reforms. He said that, although progress had been made on VAT, but proposals were still awaited from the Greeks.
The budget forecasts are well below the set targets and Greece has only six months left to catch up. Substantial progress is said to be awaited when it comes to the Greek government's full reform list. Taking all this into account, it seems highly unlikely that agreement will be reached by 5 June, the deadline for Greece to repay €300 million to the IMF. Reports suggest that the eurozone does not view 5 June as an absolute deadline. (Elodie Lamer)