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The ministry of finance has sent a tentative three-page list of measures to the European institutions

22 February 2015 / 19:02:34  GRReporter
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A three-page letter containing the measures Greece is supposed to undertake was sent today at noon by the Greek ministry of finance to the EU, IMF and ECB. The latter are going to send their feedback until tonight, to be taken into account before Athens makes its final proposal tomorrow.

The proposed measures are neither financial, nor are they quantified in percentages; rather, they are of political nature. They describe how the government is going to combat tax evasion and corruption, reform the state sector and tackle the humanitarian crisis.

It is believed that the lack of financial indicators won't cause any issues. However, the European institutions are expected to insist on aligning some of the measures with the commitments laid down in the programme, which is closing on 28 February.

At its meeting yesterday, the Ministerial Council discussed the results of the Eurogroup meeting as well as some of the measures to be put forward to Brussels. Both Alexis Tsipras and Yannis Varoufakis assured the Council that the final list would be ready by the morning of 23 February. The finance minister said that if Europe approved the Greek proposals, the process (the four-month programme extension) would automatically resume. A ‘no’ would imply scheduling a new Eurogroup meeting. "We're pretty sure that we will get a ‘yes’ ... and continue stabilising the economy," said Varoufakis.

What does the list contain?

According to reports, the government is going to put in the list the 100-instalment repayment of debt to the state, some regulations on employment issues, a number of tax measures, as well as measures from the toolkit of the OECD.

This morning, the deputy finance minister, Nadia Valavani, reiterated that the arrangement for outstanding payments to the state was the last concession the government was going to grant debtors. Talking to SKAI TV, Valavani said she was certain this measure could be applied despite the commitment made before the Eurogroup to abstain from unilateral actions, which might affect the financial targets. Valavani believes this policy is going to bring financial benefits to the state.

Reports say that most of the proposals in today's list were already made public by Tsipras in his yesterday's statement on the agreement reached with the Eurogroup.

Berlin’s tough line

Berlin sticks to a (hard) waiting position. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said immediately after the Eurogroup meeting on Friday that the Greek government was going to have a hard time explaining the agreement to its constituents.

"Being in government implies facing reality, and the latter often looks less pretty than dreams," said Schaeuble.

A close associate of Merkel said Saturday that the German parliament would likely approve the four-month extension of the loan agreement with Greece, provided that Athens presented a list of promised reforms. "Greece must now do its part of the deal," said Volker Kauder, leader of the Christian Democrats in the German Bundestag.

Tags: list of measures the Ministry of Finance Yannis Varoufakis Alexis Tsipras
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