Greece and its European creditors are “very close” to an agreement that would open the way to vital debt talks, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici said on Monday.
However, first the Greek government had to complete an ongoing audit of its latest fiscal reforms to enable a “package deal” on further structural changes and debt talks, Moscovici said on a two-day visit to Athens.
“I think we are very close to an agreement ... if we are capable of concluding the review, then we must absolutely open ... debt talks,” he told Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Photo: Reuters
“It cannot be done ... in just one meeting, but [there needs to be] a sequence, which Monday next week at which the debt issue is expected to be discussed.
“We need to reach a staff-level agreement by the end of this week ... it’s absolutely doable,” Moscovici then told reporters.
Greece’s budget for next year, to be approved by parliament on Saturday next week, includes extra taxation on cars, fixed telephony, pay television, fuel, tobacco, coffee and beer.
Greece’s leftist-led government is desperate to reach agreement with the creditors on the new fiscal measures before the end of the year in order to secure a pledge of debt relief, hoping it will kick-start the nation’s ailing economy.
Athens is also hoping that a deal will persuade the European Central Bank to include Greek sovereign debt in its asset purchase program, known as quantitative easing or QE.
Without debt relief, the ECB will not grant Greece access to QE, and without this, the country will not be able to return to borrowing markets by early 2018, Greek Minister of Finance Euclid Tsakalotos said on Monday.
Greece’s debt will grow to 315 billion euros (US$334 billion) or about 180 percent of output this year, according to the Greek Ministry of Finance.
ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure, who is also in Athens, on Monday said that there were “serious concerns” about the sustainability of Greece’s crushing debt.
“All stakeholders in the Greek adjustment program realize that there are serious concerns about the sustainability of Greek public debt,” Coeure told an Athens conference.
“We are looking forward to a solution that can reassure markets,” he said, one that would “allow the full involvement of the IMF in the program [to] enhance the program’s credibility.”
The goal is to “ultimately restore market access for Greece before the [present EU bailout] ends in July 2018,” Coeure said.
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