The positions between Athens and its institutional creditors are reported to be very close over a package of reforms to be applied in exchange for financial aid in the framework of the second monitoring mission of the third Greek bailout plan.
There is agreement on almost all matters, with the exception of a minor issue related to the employment market, a diplomatic source said on Wednesday 29 March.
On the same day, a European Commission spokesperson declined to confirm reports from the news agency Reuters that an agreement has been reached at technical level.
In line with the request of the Eurogroup, the Greek authorities and its creditors are working flat-out to negotiate a package of tax reforms related to pensions and the employment market (see EUROPE 11749).
According to Reuters, pensions have been pared back again at a level of 1% in 2019 and the household taxation threshold will be dropped. The government is reported to have been authorised to reinstate the collective agreements that were shelved in the first two Greek bailout plans (see EUROPE 11673).
Once concluded at technical level, this package of reforms will be put before the Eurogroup on Friday 7 April. In order to finalise the second monitoring mission of the third bailout plan, the ministers must set the Greek budgetary trajectory post-2018 and discuss the matter of medium-term relief measures for the Greek debt. It is only once all of these parameters are known, possibly by the end of May, that the IMF will be able to decide whether to participate financially in the third bailout plan. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)