People walk past a shuttered pharmacy during the first day of a strike by the pharmacy owners association in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, Monday, October 26, 2015.
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Greece’s creditors – the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism, and the global Monetary Fund – have asked Greece to lower the level at which owners’ primary residence is protected from repossession when the owner is not repaying his loan.
A leading European Union official says Greece’s bailout talks with its worldwide creditors are broadly on track, but the country still has much work to do, in little time.
The report said that Greece had approved just 14 of the 48 “milestone” reforms demanded by creditors in return for what is the country’s third global bailout, worth 86 billion euros.
Perhaps even more pressing is a planned 25 billion euro bailout payment to recapitalize Greek banks, which are badly in need of cash after extended closures, daily cash withdrawal limits, and emergency measures created to keep money in Greece this past summer.
“I think we are on the right track as regards the cooperation and as regards working towards our joint aim of restoring economic growth and job creation in Greece”, said Dombrovskis, who is on a two-day visit to Athens.
The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” said that the main problem facing Greek banks was the inability of many homeowners to pay off their loans, with an estimated 320,000 people in arrears. At the heart of the issue are housing loans.
On the agenda of discussions on Monday was also the issue of the recapitalization of Greece’s banking system that is expected to be concluded after the bailout review.
“But there is a clear willingness (on) both sides to find a compromise”, he added.
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Government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili said Athens will fight “all the way” to prevent an explosion in foreclosures. Otherwise, depositors with over 100,000 euros in the bank will be forced to take losses on their savings. We think that Greece can not deal with the debt without debt relief.
