Concessions accepted:
Greece has accepted the concessions on Monday to break the deadlock with its creditors, euro zone, and IMF, on its rescue plan, before a series of crucial elections in the EU that may complicate any compromise. Is Greece preparing to break the deadlock with its creditors? Following a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday (February 20th), Athens agreed to take measures to meet the budgetary targets set by the euro area and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These concessions should allow him to advance on his rescue plan.
Creditors to finalize the agreement
The Heads of Mission (representing the creditors of Greece) will thus be able to return to Athens to finalize the details of an agreement. They "will work with the Greek authorities on a further package of structural reforms of the tax system, the pension system and labor market regulation," explained the chairman of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem after a meeting of the euro area finance ministers in Brussels.
An important step has been taken
According to a Greek government source, the new measures will be voted by mid-March. "It is likely that this will be a reduction of the threshold of tax exemption and measures on pensions, the two points on which the IMF insists," said this source.
European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici considers that "an important step has been taken towards a conclusion of the second review", a sort of stage in the Greek aid plan, which should lead to a final agreement allowing the disbursement of a new tranche of the loan of 86 billion euros, granted in the summer of 2015, under the third aid plan.
IMF welcomes the Greece decision
While welcoming the concessions made by Greece, the IMF somewhat tempered the general enthusiasm by warning that "further progress" remained necessary. It is still "too early to speculate" on an agreement during this mission, warned the institution. For months, negotiations between Greece and its donors have stalled, while elections scheduled for March in the Netherlands and then from April to June in France and finally in September in Germany are likely to hamper any decision-making.Theoretically, Greece has a margin until July, but not beyond, because it has to honor debts of more than seven billion euros.
