Brussels, 02/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The third bailout plan for Greece cannot be taken in isolation from the migration situation in the country, the Greek Finance Minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, told the Economic and monetary affairs committee of the European Parliament on Wednesday 2 March.
The Greek minister did not ask for any changes to the goals of the structural adjustment programme applied in exchange for financial assistance, but he argued that the bailout plan should take account of the mass influx of migrants, which has led to “extra pressure in terms of expenditure”, with the European Commission having the same day proposed emergency assistance to Athens precisely in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis (see other article).
Indirectly criticising the Balkan states, which have taken unilateral measures to prevent migrants from heading north, Tsakalotos said that it was impossible to stop these flows, for instance due to the geographical characteristics of his country. He called for a “European solution” to the migration crisis, otherwise the situation would become “extremely difficult” for Greece, where social expenditure is low for the Greeks themselves, and will end up feeding the rhetoric of the extreme right.
Tsakalotos called for the rapid completion of the first monitoring mission of the bailout plan, which is currently underway. “We haven't got endless time”, he stressed, warning that the people of the country were getting tired of reforms in a country which has lost 25% of its wealth since it was placed on financial life support. He said that there are five issues still to be resolved: the nature of the measures to plug the fiscal gap; income tax reform; pension reform; non-performing loans; and the creation of the privatisation fund.
As regards the fiscal gap, the positions of the Greek authorities and those of the European public creditors are, he said, relatively close, whereas the IMF is calling for more savings measures. Describing the IMF's position as “difficult to understand”, Tsakalotos said that he hoped the international financial institution would have an equally ambitious attitude when it comes to negotiating a rescheduling of the Greek debt once the first monitoring mission is out of the way. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)