Talks with troika heads to resume Thursday, gov’t says

20:16 12/3/2014 - Πηγή: Matrix24

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras” aides said on Wednesday that the government remains adamant on its positions in the negotiations with the troika of Greece’s lenders.

According to the same sources, Samaras will not back down on what he has announced regarding the allocation of the primary surplus to the armed forces, to low pensioners and to weaker social groups.

Talks with the heads of the troika

mission will continue on Thursday afternoon at the finance ministry, it was announced. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, who returns in Athens from Brussels later on Wednesday, stated on Tuesday that quite a few issues are still pending, despite the significant progress in the negotiations.

Stournaras, speaking at the end of Ecofin’s meeting in Brussels late on Tuesday, said the troika will push for completion of negotiations by Sunday.

Following the meeting, Stournaras said that quite a few fronts remained open in negotiations but said significant progress had also been made. He referred to a wide spectrum of prior actions involved in the troika’s fourth review report, mentioning that for 2013 there were 896 prior actions, of which 79 percent had been accomplished.

The agreement expected by Sunday will focus on structural issues as described in the OECD’s toolkit, such as relate for example to the products and services markets.

In fiscal issues, the Finance minister said that the taxation on behalf of third parties and the reduction by 3.9 percent of insurance contributions remained unresolved.

In the banking sector, he said, the Greek side got what it wanted, as the troika recognized that the responsibility for carrying out stress tests lies with the Bank of Greece and the European Central Bank (ECB). «We are not downgrading the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF),» Stournaras said of one of the two lenders of Greece, along with the ECB and European Commission, «but it is an issue that is linked more with internal troika issues than with Greece.»

Asked about the approval of the next loan tranche, the Greek minister was optimistic, he said, pending agreement by the weekend with the troika. «By May, we will have the money,» he asserted, adding that the disbursed tranche will fully cover all of the country’s financial needs.

In regards with Greece’s exit to the markets, it will be on a trial basis and for small amounts; he added, he is not aware of objections to this by the IMF. As long as there is agreement with the troika and Eurostat, the EU’s statistics branch, ratifies the primary surplus, the Eurogroup will initiate discussion on the fiscal gap and the viability of the Greek debt, based on the November 2012 decision, he noted.

Source: AMNA