Officials are optimistic an agreement will be reached, allowing Greece’s parliament to pass any new required reforms in the middle of the week and paving the way for a meeting of euro-area finance ministers at the end of the week, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.
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Greece’s Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos also confirmed that just “two or three small details” remained in the bailout negotiations.
The four institutions representing Greece’s creditors – the ECB, the worldwide Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) – made progress over the weekend on the details of a plan that would make as much as 86 billion euros ($93 billion) available to Greece, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.
Greece must make a payment of €3.2 billion ($3.5 billion) on August 20 to the European Central Bank.
“Finally, we have white smoke”, a finance ministry official said.
“The election talk cultivated in recent days is neither useful nor does it correspond to reality”, spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili said in a statement, adding that the government was focused on concluding a deal and then negotiating debt relief with its creditors.
Even then, doubts remain about whether a leftist government elected on a pledge to reverse austerity can implement the punishing terms of an agreement that critics say compromises the basic principles it stands for.
“We’re talking about a programme for three years, it needs to be negotiated thoroughly”, Deputy Finance Minister Jens Spahn told Germany’s ARD television shortly before the deal was announced.
Greece’s Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis, left, arrives at a hotel to continue talks with bailout negotiators, in central Athens, on Monday, August 10, 2015.
There was no immediate detail forthcoming from the government on other sticking points with the creditors, including how to deal with some 90 billion euros in bad loans burdening banks.
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The primary budget surplus target, which does not include interest payments on debt, for 2018 is 3.5 percent. It was not immediately clear how that was resolved. Europe has already provided Greece with 7.16 billion euros in a bridge loan.
