Brussels, 23/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 24 July, the institutions (European Commission, ECB and IMF) will make their grand return to Athens, this time accompanied by the representative of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), with the aim of starting negotiations on a third bailout plan. This return has been made possible following Thursday's adoption by the Greek government of the second package of reforms called for as a prerequisite.
A European Commission spokesperson said that the Greek parliament had “taken another important step forward” in the implementation of the commitments contained in the declaration of the eurozone summit of 13 July, with its adoption of the second package of reforms. In total, 230 MPs voted in favour of changes to the Civil Procedure Code and the legislative text transposing the European directive on bank restructuring and resolution (known as the BRRD). However, 63 MPs (31 of them from Syriza) rejected these measures and 5 Syriza members abstained. The former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, this time voted in favour of this second salvo of measures, having opposed the first package on 15 July.
The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, stressed that the compromise chosen by his government consisted of implementing a programme he did not believe in, but which he would apply nonetheless. The vote took place at around 4.00am following several hours of debate.
The institutions carried out a swift analysis and noted that the Greek authorities had “legally implemented the second plank of measures concluded at the eurozone summit in a reasonable amount of time and in an overall satisfactory manner”, according to a Commission spokesperson. “The negotiations for a memorandum of understanding should now be able to move forward as quickly as possible”, the spokesperson added. The commissioner for economic affairs, Pierre Moscovici, indicated on Wednesday that the talks could lead to an agreement in the second half of August.
The Eurogroup is reported to be inclined to meet in mid-August to approve the result of the talks, taking account of the fact that some time margin will be needed for the national procedures necessary and that the disbursement of an initial tranche of loan could be made before 20 August, when the country is due to pay some €3.2 billion back to the ECB.
However, the idea has already been raised of dipping once again into the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), which is managed by the Commission on behalf of the 28 EU member states, for the bridge financing, in order to avoid any missed repayments in August.
A joint statement of the Council of the EU and the Commission on 17 July states, however, that the EFSM cannot be used until changes have been made to the regulation instituting it, as proposed by the Commission on Wednesday 22 July (see EUROPE 11364). These changes aim to protect non-eurozone countries when the EFSM is used in favour of a eurozone state. The Council has to change the regulation by written procedure, probably before mid-August, thereby paving the way for a second EFSM intervention to cover Greece's bridge financing needs. (Elodie Lamer)