Pressure set to grow on Athens
Expected visits by Dijsselbloem and Costello will up the ante ahead of difficult prior actions by year-end
Technical experts representing the country’s creditors started visiting the country’s ministries in Athens yesterday, paving the way for the third bailout review, which has long ceased to be viewed as a simple matter and is increasingly burdened with problems.
Pressure for a satisfactory conclusion to the review will grow with the planned visit on September 25 of Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who will meet with Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos.
Responding to a question by Kathimerini, Dijsselbloem’s spokesman said that the head of the Eurogroup will discuss eurozone issues and certainly the progress of the adjustment program. Government officials estimate that the discussion on the course of the review and the Greek program may be combined with the expiry of Dijsselbloem’s mandate at the Eurogroup chair at year-end.
The Dutch minister – whose last visit in Athens and his meeting with his counterpart at the time, Yanis Varoufakis, was quite eventful – would obviously like to leave on a positive note in regards to the Greek program. It has been rumored that he may seek another office in the eurozone.
Sources from Brussels also say that the top European Commission’s top representative, Declan Costello, will also be coming to Athens in the next few days.
In addition to the main cluster of 113 prior actions, of which 95 should be implemented by year-end, the creditors have expressed their objections and doubts about recent legislative moves made by the government, such as the labor law passed last Thursday. Sources say that the creditors have also expressed concerns 1.1997 about clauses related to the reduced value-added tax on agricultural supplies, the opening up of closed professions, as well as the civil service.
A large number of the 95 prior actions the government must implement in record time have a high degree of difficulty, and government officials believe this may require revisions on family benefits, the operation of the sell-off hyperfund and its subsidiaries, the opening up of the energy market, etc.