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After 100 days of negotiations the Greek government has finally decided to accept that an assessment of the Greek programme is being carried out and remove some "red lines".

The partners have made concessions too thereby finding the golden mean with regard to the issues of the social security system, labour relations and taxes, such as VAT and the single tax on real estate.

14 main measures are already in the final stage on the negotiating table of the Brussels group and will provide the green light for the first relief in the form of a tranche to Athens. According to the government sources, these measures will have a "significant fiscal and tax effect" but also "the necessary social justice."

Meeting under the leadership of Yanis Varoufakis

A meeting of the negotiating team led by Greek Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis yesterday evening in Brussels also confirmed the convergence of positions between Greece and its creditors over this first set of measures. The list of measures is still to be finalized, possibly supplemented by tomorrow, Friday, when the first stage of the talks under the Brussels group should be completed.

According to the sources, the negotiation teams have agreed on the following issues for the time being:

• Imposing a special tax on the 500 richest taxpayers based on their possessions.

• The single tax on real estate will remain in force in 2015 too. Citizens can only hope for a reduction through a decrease in the tax assessment that will be finalized by the end of June.

• A special payment in the case of incomes that exceed 50,000 euro, without the 30% decrease. It is estimated that this measure will bring to the treasury revenues to the amount of 1.3 billion euro.

• Introducing a single VAT rate of 15% (with the exception of medicines and books on which the rate will remain 6.5% and food on which it will remain 13%). It seems that the creditors want a higher single rate of about 18%. Simultaneously, however, everything indicates that the minimum VAT rate of 6.5% will increase to 8%. Therefore, there will be an increase of about 2.65% in goods and services, such as electricity, water, bills etc., food products, restaurants, and a more than 5% decrease in clothing, shoes, electrical appliances and electronics.

• Freezing early retirement, due to which many will lose the right to retirement that they have either due to age or to continuity of social security coverage. At the same time, it seems that disincentives will be introduced too, such as a large reduction in early pensions, mainly for the employees of structural state enterprises and banks. The measure will directly affect those who have been insured since before 1993, the mothers of minors who are insured at the National Insurance Institute (IKA), workers in difficult and unhealthy conditions, male civil servants with 25 years of service and a minor child, men who are insured at special funds and who retire when they have 35 years of service regardless of age, as well as female employees of structural state enterprises and banks who are insured before 1983 and entitled to retire at the age of 52.

• Introducing a 30% increase in the luxury tax on luxury cars, swimming pools and planes, and possibly yachts.

• Introducing a tax on overnight stays (1-5 euro or 3-5% on the price per overnight stay) at luxury hotels on the Aegean islands.

• Introducing a 3% tax on receipts issued at nightclubs, bars, restaurants and other similar first category establishments during the tourist season (1 April - 31 October).

• Introducing a special tax rate of 6% on the sales of goods subject to the luxury tax (such as watches, jewellery, works of art). The measure will probably be introduced on the Aegean islands where reduced VAT rates are in force.

• Compulsory use of credit cards for purchases worth over 70 euro on islands with a population of over 3,000 inhabitants.

• Stricter income and property criteria to protect the first house from its sale at auction, because of the inability to service the loan.

• Creating an intermediate body for private debt management.

• Freezing the issue of increasing the minimum salary.

• Collective labour agreements on the European model, which will now be more flexible, following the example of other European Union member states, providing for the existence of a higher authority to determine the minimum salary but also the number of redundancies. For example, mass layoffs in France and Germany are allowed on condition that talks between workers and employers have previously taken place.