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The period in which the Greek government must send the list of planned reforms to the creditors is about to end. Nevertheless, cabinet members do not exclude even a possible rift if no agreement is reached with the European partners.

Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis was the first to start this dangerous game when, whether for fun or not, he asked a resident of Chania to support SYRIZA "after the collision."

His words caused confusion among political parties and concern among public opinion. SYRIZA however replied that Varoufakis meant the breaking of corruption, corporate interests and criminal schemes.

Efklidis Tsakalotos: We are ready for a rift with the creditors

The fuss about Varoufakis’ reply in Chania, Crete, had not yet subsided and another bomb exploded today on the part of Deputy Minister for International Economic Relations Efklidis Tsakalotos who claimed, "We are creating confusion on purpose, to make them aware that we are ready for a rift." In an interview with Star journalist Poppy Tsapanidou, Tsakalotos pointed out that "the technical teams perceive the measures of the memorandum as their "own child" and explained that the government's priority was the payment of pensions and salaries.

"We cannot take recessionary measures," Tsakalotos stressed, adding that the partners "agreed that the country needs structural and fiscal measures." The Deputy Minister for International Economic Relations said, "The big issue in the field of taxation is that we do not collect VAT" and noted that VAT increase on the islands would not help the economy.

Regarding the single property tax Tsakalotos stated that it would be repealed in 2015 and Greeks would pay the tax that would replace it. However, the Deputy Minister noted that now the single tax "is not included in the list of reforms we are discussing."

Nikos Voutsis: We are working to avoid a rift

Minister of Interior Nikos Voutsis expressed confidence that "a fair agreement will be achieved" with the European partners and added that it would take a lot of effort on the part of the government.

Voutsis commented for Real FM radio on the scenarios for a possible rift with the creditors, explaining, "We are not playing with such a rift, we wish to avoid it and we are working in this direction." The Minister of Interior added that this regarded a political confrontation, as the other side did not want to replace the "virus" of austerity with another policy.

Asked to comment on the progress of negotiations, Voutsis mentioned that the position of the cabinet was defensive, and noted that the Greek government would proceed to "reforms that bear our sign. If there is pressure in the field of labour relations, cuts, etc., of which I am not aware, it is clear that the government will not discuss such matters at all."

"We have no opportunity for growth"

The Minister continued in the same vein and expressed his concern about the prospects for Greece’s economic growth, "One of my constant concerns is that it will not be possible to hold a discussion on economic growth and recovery of production until the summer. Even with the best agreement that we sign, as a bridge until the summer, we will have no opportunity for growth."

Finally Nikos Voutsis described a situation of unilateral acts carried out by the other party, explaining that "we unilaterally pay each tranche of funds, while unilaterally we are not granted those injections of 1.2 billion euro that they owe us, the profits of European banks are unilaterally not given to us."

"Red lines" of the government in the list of reforms

According to government circles the so-called red lines can be summarized as follows:

Social security system: Athens specifies that it has no intention to discuss the raising of the retirement age to 67 years.

Employment issues: There will be no measures to cut salaries and pensions, nor measures for further deregulation of the labour market.

VAT: The economic staffs of the cabinet do not intend to discuss VAT rates, other than the existing ones.

Privatization: The government is strongly opposed to the selling of state property. The talks with regard to this are about public-private partnerships for economic growth.

Structural issues: The independence of the general secretariat of public revenues is an issue on which the creditors insist and the government support is too. Conversely, the changes required in the salary scale of civil servants are not yet known.

Fotis Kouvelis: The list does not include recessionary measures

Leader of Democratic Left Fotis Kouvelis said after his meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that "the list of reforms which will be sent to our partners is ready." He expressed confidence that "the forthcoming meeting of the Eurogroup will have positive results" and stressed that "the partners must understand that it is necessary to drive economic growth."