Klaus Masuch (left) from the European Central Bank and Matthias Morse from the European Commission, yesterday in front of the Ministry of Finance. Photo: naftemporiki.gr
Nobody knows
Regarding Reuters’ remark that "last Friday Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos gave to Deputies three scenarios for overcoming the debt crisis, one of which contains regular bankruptcy by "cuts” of 50 percent for holders of bonds", a senior eurozone official commented that "nobody knows at this stage how much greater the participation of the private sector must be. It may reach levels that Greek bonds are being negotiated at right now. Some scenarios are indicating 50 percent, but that does not mean anything." In any case, he adds, "The question is whether with our current steps we are going towards a viable solution or not, but at this stage there is no clear opinion on the topic. The European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank need to decide whether this is possible or not."
Being at gunpoint and the situation in Justice
From yesterday another element under the Troika's "microscope" has been the state of the judiciary in the country and in particular the issue of delay in justice, as its technical team visited Athens District Court and later the Ministry of Justice.
At the same time there was feedback on the Troika's visit (by the Chairman of the Athens Bar Association and officials and representatives of the ministry).
In particular, the Troika technical team visited the Athens Regional Court and the Ministry of Justice to obtain information about the Greek judicial system and the problems it faces, and in particular of the speed of justice and tax cases pending in the administrative courts.
The Troika members met with the Chief of the District Court Evtihios Nikopoulou (in the presence of advisors from the Ministry of Justice) to be officially informed about the new programme for electronic filing of court documents, which was recently implemented at the Ministry of Justice in an effort to facilitate the work of justice.
According to information, during the meeting conducted in the presence of the President of the Union of Lawyers and prosecutors Haralambos Atanasiou, the Troika members requested statistics on the pace of justice and wanted to see the facilities for court automation.
In practice, the answer they received was that so far the only existing automation system is the one related to the electronic filing of court documents, functioning as a test since September 16 because the problem of court fees payment has still not been resolved.
On the Greek side, however, it was explained that the issue of electronic payment of fees will be resolved in the near future.
Meetings with representatives of the Troika will continue today, as will meetings with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Administrative Reform Minister Dimitris Repas "to continue the discussion about the labour reserve" and decisions are expected from an extraordinary cabinet meeting. Also today, a general meeting will be held between Evangelos Venizelos, the Minister of Justice Miltiadis Papaioannou and the supervisory Troika, who will discuss the issues related to Justice.