In televised comments, Tsipras said a second evaluation of the country’s bailout program would end soon to be followed with a final decision on debt relief that would allow Greece will rejoin the European Central Bank’s bond repurchase program.
Advertisement
European Union finance ministers will discuss progress on the Greek bailout reforms at its two-day meeting which starts today.
During the Friday meeting in Bratislava in Slovakia, the European officials expressed concern Athens is falling behind schedule in its efforts to reform the economy.
Meanwhile, a conservative lawmaker back in Germany, Manfred Weber, called on Athens to deliver on promised reforms under its third bailout. So far, Greece has only met two of those conditions, with the remainder at varying degrees of implementation.
The European Commission is cited as stating that the tranche will not be disbursed as Greece has implemented only 2 of the 15 political reforms required for the release of the funds. But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Greece still had time to complete its work, saying Athens has in the past come through on required measures at the wire.
While Greece has made progress in reshaping its economy and public finances over the past six years that it’s been in receipt of bailout money, it remains encumbered by a heavy debt burden because the economy has shrunk by around a quarter over that period, a staggering contraction that sent unemployment, particularly among the young, sky-rocketing.
While work to enact the remaining requirements – such as asset sales and bank governance – for the latest payout is under way and the Greek government has time to qualify for the disbursement before it expires at the end of October, any persistent delays risk clouding the outlook for the next global review of Greece’s bailout progress and the prospects for debt relief being dangled by the creditors.
Advertisement
Tax policies within the European Union were also on the agenda at the Bratislava meeting amid calls for an end to corporation loopholes. European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici commented on the dispute between the EC and USA tech giant Apple regarding tax evasion fines, he said the Commission was a political body and efforts were being made to quash tax evasion on a global scale. He said he backed the idea of drawing up black list of tax haven countries as a detriment to unfair tax practices. He said that southern countries would present common ideas on boosting growth and investment at an European Union leaders’ summit in Bratislava next Friday. Under a deal signed with its creditors – the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – Greece can receive financial assistance worth Euro 86 billion (USD 96 billion) by 2018 in return for agreed economic reforms.
