Brussels, 04/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Greek government has announced a few lines in the sand regarding the negotiations on pension reform with the institutions (Commission, ECB, IMF, ESM) representing its creditors.
Over the weekend, the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, said that the Greek authorities had “no obligation to find the money exclusively from pension cuts. On the contrary, the agreement (with the creditors) provides for the possibility of equivalent measures, which we have already set in train ”.
Previously, the Commission has highlighted the fact that the Greek pension system was one of the most expensive in Europe. Tsipras has acknowledged that the system is “on the verge of collapse”. “If we do not tackle the problem of the social security system today, this time next year we will no longer be able to pay out pensions”, said the Secretary General of the Ministry of Employment, Andreas Nefeloudis.
On Sunday, the Governor of the Greek Central Bank, Yannis Stournaras, made an appeal in the newspaper Kathimerini for the government to ensure that the institutions' first monitoring mission in Athens ends on a positive note. “Any failure of the monitoring mission would be destabilising and would bring back memories of the first half of 2015”, he added. “Repeating this experience would bring about considerable risks, which the economy would struggle to bear this time round”, he concluded. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)