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Greek government entangled in the negotiations

04 May 2015 / 10:05:20  GRReporter
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The Greek government has totally changed its strategy in the negotiations with creditors after the three rest days at the end of last week. The team of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has given up the idea of ​​achieving some interim arrangement with the creditors to ensure the payment of some portion of the 7.2 billion euro tranche. From now on the purpose of the Greek negotiation team is to reach a new agreement with the creditors that will provide financing to the Greek economy until the end of 2016 and include restructuring measures of the Greek debt. The Greek government imagines this new arrangement as a political decision at the level of European leaders.
    The immediate goal of Athens is to succeed in persuading the European Central Bank to grant more liquidity while the talks with creditors are underway. Meanwhile, Minister of Employment Panos Skourletis states it is almost impossible to achieve an agreement at the level of technocrats who handle specific facts and figures, and insist on reforms in the labour relations and pension system. The representatives of the International Monetary Fund are most adamant, insisting on a radical change of the pension system. In particular, Skourletis has announced that the European partners of Greece insist on the abolition of the 13th pension, sharp reductions in pension benefits, elimination of collective labour agreements and on a moratorium on raising the minimum salary.


    At the same time, the Greek opposition warns that the country is on the verge of catastrophe. "We are coming closer to the collision with the iceberg each passing day," the Potami party states, requesting a meeting of the leaders of all political parties. "The government is in talks with its ministers, not with the creditors," said PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, according to whom SYRIZA governing over the past three months has pushed Greece five years back. Yesterday SYRIZA MP Nikos Manios threatened the creditors with a credit event if they failed to accept the demands of Athens.
    The signals the Greek side is receiving from Europe are mixed too. Spanish Minister of Finance Luis de Gidos states that no one wants Greece's exit from the euro zone but the commitments must be respected.

 

Tags: Greececrisisnegotiations with creditorsPanos Skourletispension reformabolition of collective labour agreements
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