Galery

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The "Labour reserve" seems to be becoming a thorn in the side of negotiations with the supervisory Troika. It might dangerously delay the completion of the examination and the granting of the 6^th tranche as foreign inspectors want the transfer of 30 000 people to the reserve by December. They are watching with displeasure the government's attempts to avoid doing that. 

Final agreement was not reached yesterday, something expected to happen today in the new round of meetings, in order to enable, tomorrow, the extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers to take final decisions, which will be painful for employees in the public sector. 

It is therefore most disturbing that, according to statements made by a senior official in the eurozone for "Reuters" agency, the Troika's inspection report on the progress of the fiscal adjustment program implemented by Greece, may be finalized only after 2 to 3 weeks. 

This declaration means, on the one hand, that there are many important unresolved issues between the government and the Troika and, on the other hand, that if confirming the Troika's report is delayed, the granting of the 6^th tranche will be made after mid-October, a time when the cash reserves of the government will already be exhausted. 

Government spokesman Ilias Mosialos and Deputy Finance Minister Filippos Sahinidis said that cash reserves will last until mid-October and if the tranche is late, there will be delays or postponement of payments in the public sector. 

However, the same source from the eurozone believes that the report of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission could be decisive for whether it will be necessary for a review of the private sector participation in the second rescue package for Greece and explains that if the report forecasts on the development of the Greek economy are revised to negative, revenues will be reviewed as well. 

"In the event of such a development, the financing needs of Greece will be higher than had been expected on July 21 when the eurozone leaders agreed on the rescue package of 109 billion Euros." 

Within this framework, "the leaders of the eurozone will not agree to meet additional needs without the involvement of the private sector and will ask the private debt holders to accept more "cuts ". 

Pressure 

Information indicates that the Troika insists on the government's commitment to transfer 30 000 people to the labour reserve by the end of 2011, most of whom will be laid off after the 12-month period, and  also to increase the labour reserve in the narrow public sector, disregarding constitutional constraints, to which the relevant ministers are referring. 

Even worse is the scenario discussed in the meetings for layoffs without compensation (!), keeping in mind that if the compensations are paid, the economic cost would be impossible for the budget. 

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Administrative Reform Minister Dimitris Repas, who have assumed the task of formulating the framework of the labour reserve, met yesterday with leaders of the Troika and proposed that transfer to the reserve begin with employees approaching retirement age, so that upon retirement they could receive a pension less than the salary and the result would directly benefit public finances. For those employees opinions are divided between whether to receive benefits or a portion of the lump sum, which is disbursed upon retirement. 

These proposals and others made by the ministers aim to mitigate the consequences for employees who will be included in the labour reserve and to limit negative feedback from the people. 

In any case, up until yesterday they had failed to convince the Troika, which wants an immediate acceleration of the procedures for the transfers of 30,000 employees (3% of the total number of civil servants) to the reserve by the end of 2011, as Minister Venizelos undertook this commitment in front of the Troika during the negotiations for the return of representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and European Commission. 

Transport 

The assessment of the Troika “stumbles over” the deficit in urban transport and railways of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, which has been carried out with "obstacles" after the blocking of the Ministry by employees. 

According to information Giannis Rangousis has become an object of strong disapproval by the Troika due to the 150 million euros excess compared to  previously estimated deficits in public transport and railway companies. 

The data shows that deficits in the state railway companies "OSE" and "TRENOSE" will exceed the forecasted 2011 budget of 35 to 40 million Euros, which was presented to the Troika during the summer. 

The exceeded amount in Athens public transport company (OASA) has reached, respectively, 100-110 million Euros. 

Troika representatives refrained from examining the data on the status of companies, consequently a new meeting of experts on that subject is not ruled out. 

Regarding the bill for the liberalization of taxis and trucks, the ministry press office said that the Troika had requested full liberalization as soon as possible. 

In connection with this Mr. Rangousis said: "From the moment we assumed the political 
obligation to bring our country out of crisis by reducing the incomes of millions of Greeks, we have had a moral duty not to bow down to branch requirements for the preservation of privileges from another time." The bill for taxis is expected to be debated in parliament next week. 

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.