As Greek government officials expressed their confidence that
a deal with the country’s creditors is close, top European officials
indicated Tuesday that although there has been progress in negotiations, an
agreement is unlikely before the end of the month.
In comments during an interview with Star channel that began
late on Monday and finished in the early hours of yesterday morning,
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he believed a deal was likely “in
about a week.” At around the same time the so-called Brussels Group of
negotiators were pondering a Greek proposal for overhauling value-added tax
rates. According to government sources, progress has been achieved on the
technical level with the two sides converging on a primary surplus target
for this year of about 1 percent of gross domestic product. Differences
remain however on the issues of pension and labor reform. Another
teleconference was due late last night with face-to-face talks expected to
take place in Brussels Wednesday.
Addressing a joint press conference in Berlin, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said talks
must be accelerated to produce an agreement by the end of May.
“We must speed things up,” Hollande said, adding that Greece
has “financial needs so financial resources need to be found.” Merkel also
underlined the need for an agreement by the end of May. Both leaders said
they were prepared to meet with Greek President Alexis Tsipras this week on
the sidelines of a European Union leaders’ summit in Riga.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he
expected a deal by late May or early June; he also rebuffed reports that he
had proposed a compromise deal to Athens.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said talks were
moving too slowly despite progress in “sub-areas,” according to Reuters.
Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, for his part, told RTL Z channel:
“We are intensively busy with the Greeks and we are making progress, I
would say cautiously.” He added that it was “not a given” that a
breakthrough could be achieved in Riga.
According to sources, Tsipras is keen to secure political
support in Riga that would allow eurozone finance ministers to call an
extraordinary summit – preferably next Monday which, however, is a public
holiday in Brussels. Greece hopes that a Eurogroup meeting could give the
green light for the release of much-needed rescue loans. The hope is for a
portion of 3.7 billion euros in European loan money to be released as the
International Monetary Fund appears unwilling to release its 3.5 billion
euros unless the reforms proposed by Greece are similar to those promised
by the previous government. At the very least Athens hopes that a positive
Eurogroup statement could prompt the European Central Bank to allow Greece
to issue more treasury bills, which would tide the country over until the
two sides hammer out a broader pact in summer. That deal should include a
debt restructuring and an investment plan, according to Athens.
Greece will struggle to meet a 300-million-euro repayment due
to the IMF on June 5 without the release of loan money. Labor Minister
Panos Skourletis conceded Tuesday that “things will be difficult” if an
agreement is not reached by then.
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