ESM tells gov’t to do its homework
The European Stability Mechanism’s decision regarding the disbursement of the 7.7-billion-euro tranche to Greece was yesterday postponed until tomorrow, provided that all prior actions required have been satisfied by then.
The ESM board approved the adjusted bailout agreement in a conference call with the participation of the eurozone finance ministers, but the next call that was scheduled to take place with representatives of finance ministries to ratify the payment of the tranche was put off as the Greek government still had some homework to do.
The main milestones remaining are the pending legal cases concerning the former head of the Hellenic Statistical Authority, Andreas Georgiou, the cases of the state sell-off fund experts, and the four prior actions the International Monetary Fund is insisting on before it agrees to participate in the new program – such as Sunday opening rules for stores and opening up the engineering profession, among others.
In Athens yesterday Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos expressed certainty that everything would be in place by tomorrow: “I am 100 percent certain we will manage to agree by Friday for the tranche to be disbursed,” he stated.