The Greek government finally deliver the definitive list of reforms to its European partners on Tuesday for a four-month extension to his plan of financial aid, said Monday a government source after a day of intense dialogue between Athens and Brussels.
“The list of reforms will be sent tomorrow (Tuesday) to the finance ministers of the Eurogroup,” the official said, referring to the requirement imposed by its European partners in Athens on Friday, that was due Monday at midnight reform plan.
According to the source, the plan combines social measures such as free electricity and social services for the poor, promised by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, during the election campaign, with structural reforms demanded by the finance ministers of the Eurogroup to Athens.
The budget plan includes measures like free electricity for 300,000 poor families, free access to health services, food stamps and transportation for the poor, and aid for pensioners.
The source did not specify the cost of this plan, which depends on the approval of its European partners.
According to the official, the program also proposes a new tax system that is “fairer”, several measures to fight tax evasion, corruption and smuggling in addition to the imposition of a civil service reform the administration.
“We have received the list. It is not definitive, so it is too early to evaluate it,” he told AFP a European source.
To finish shaping that roadmap for reform, Brussels is offering “advice” to the Greek authorities, so that their proposals meet the most demanding countries such as Germany and Spain.
The aim is to avoid a return to the start box and the specter of a possible Greek exit from the euro.
Tsipras and Syriza party advocating the end of the “humiliation” and the “vicious circle” of cuts demanded by Greece’s creditors in exchange for the two rescues the country valued at 240,000 million euros.
At the same time, the tough negotiations with Germany and other partners Eurozone are forcing him to yield. Athens has promised not to take unilateral measures that jeopardize its fiscal targets and had to abandon plans to obtain additional 11,000 million euros of funding support from the European Central Bank (ECB).
Tsipras insisted during the weekend that his government has made “significant success in negotiating” to “end the austerity”, but in the executive cracks begin to emerge.
The most respected member of SYRIZA, the hero of the anti-Nazi resistance Manolis Glezos, has criticized concessions to the eurozone: “I would like to apologize to the Greek people for taking part of that illusion,” said .
The European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, called on Monday for a “realistic” program, saying it is “logical” that has measures in the philosophy of SYRIZA, but considering “the balance budget “.
” The fundamentals remain the same: assistance in exchange for reforms “, warned Monday the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told Bild. “Now, it’s up to Athens to decide”.
The implementation of reforms will be evaluated in April and the eurozone in theory not disburse the remaining money in the aid program (7,200 million euros, of which 3,600 are from the EU).
Now, Athens “in May probably need money to repay loans 2,200 million, 1,400 of them from the International Monetary Fund,” economists at Berenberg remember.
Among the first proposals Greek, have a plan to combat tax evasion, higher taxes for the wealthy and tough on smuggling of fuel and snuff, proposals that would allow him to enter some 7,300 million euros, according to Bild.
The European Commission, which is next to the IMF and ECB-called “troika” and under whose protection is Greece since 2010, must give its approval.
Once the Commission can decide on the final list, and assuming that give green to light Greek government proposals, the extension would occur as long as it is also approved in the parliaments of several European countries.
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