By N. Bellos
A closely-watched EuroWorking Group session that convened on Tuesday to examine the repercussions of a recently announced one-off bonus to Greek pensioners on the country’s bailout program — now a condition for short-term debt relief measures to be implemented as planned next month — will be continued on Wednesday.
According to a Eurozone source, Tuesday’s session witnessed a “productive discussion” over the compatibility of Alexis Tsipras 617-million-euro “Yuletide bonus” to 1.6 million pensioners with the Greek program. Nevertheless the same source said there was not a complete consensus over the matter, with a decision bumped to Wednesday.
Another EU source close to the negotiations appeared “guardedly optimistic” ahead of the next session, saying assurances by the leftist Greek government that similar actions will not be repeated in the future could unblock the temporary freeze of the pending measures to lighten the country’s debt load.
