MILAN – The Eurogroup is ready to reject the list of reforms submitted by Greece. According to its president, Jerona Dijsselbloem, the list of reforms that Greece has sent the EU is “far from complete” and to be implemented will require “a long time. In March, will not be paid some tranche of aid.” Also for this reason, probably, on the eve of the meeting to be held tomorrow in Brussels, Prime Minister greek Alexis Tsipras, phoned the ECB President Mario Draghi and French President Francois Hollande. A Dragons – as reported by Bloomberg citing government officials in Athens – Tsipras would have confirmed the respect for the independence of the Eurotower, recommending, however, that this does not succumb to political pressure. With Hollande premier greek would have confirmed the desire to meet soon in Paris.
Without the green light to borrow 7.6 billion euro, Greece will not be able to meet its financial commitments. In March, in fact, have to repay EUR 1.5 billion to the IMF and the government risks not being able to pay even the salaries of public employees. The meeting tomorrow is, therefore, crucial for the future of the country and the government Tsipras.
The road, however, seems uphill. Especially after the tough stance of Dijsselbloem that at first seemed to have welcomed the contents of the letter received from Athens. More confident is definitely the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that “there will never be a Grexit”, a farewell of Greece to the euro. The government Tsipras, however, does not rule out a referendum on the European policies in case the Eurogroup should deny aid to the country.
And for this, tomorrow Greece will propose Eurogroup to revise the procedure through which negotiate reforms with the EU. “I will discuss the reforms but the procedure,” says a source close to the negotiations. In the proposal, would be of technical teams in Brussels, instead of the “troika” in Greece, to do the preparatory work before the meetings of the Eurogroup. The proposal was later confirmed by the Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis, according to which this path “will be discussed by the technical teams that will meet shortly in Brussels.”
At the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Commissioner EU Valdis Dombrovskis, reaffirmed that aid to Greece can only be unlocked if Athens will complete the reform agenda and that is unlikely, tomorrow, the Eurogroup will take decisions.
The list of reforms that Athens has sent Eurogroup includes the establishment of “a fiscal council” independent monitor government spending, its budget policy and then assess whether the objectives are achieved; improvements in terms of preparing the financial statements; the development of a scheme for the evasion of VAT; a new plan and tougher laws to collect unpaid taxes from taxpayers and businesses; a new plan to issue licenses to companies of online gambling; reducing bureaucracy and initiatives to address the humanitarian crisis with the introduction of food stamps, measures to ensure electricity and housing assistance. Total Cost: 200 290 000 euro.
The Other Europe attacks: the bazooka Draghi is pointed against Greece. “ It would be naive and wrong to entrust Quantitative Easing Europe’s recovery. Financial markets have toasted since its announcement. The spreads have come down, so the yields on government bonds, the euro has almost reached parity with the dollar, European exports have more potential.
But who will benefit? Only countries, primarily Germany, which have strengthened their economy and are based on a model that favors neomercantilista exports, not some others, like Italy that since the crisis has seen a decrease of 25% its productive assets. Moreover, the ECB is preparing to buy large amounts of German bonds. As usual rains in the wet. “
No comments:
Post a Comment