Up to 12 issues remain, more-or-less, unresolved as far as institutional creditors and Athens are concerned, ones that still hinder a conclusion to the now precariously delayed second review of the Greek program (third bailout).
The delay, as expected, has generated uncertainty, economic malaise and rekindled speculation of “Grexit”, with acrimonious political bickering again rising in crisis-plagued Greece.
Nevertheless, a Euro zone source that spoke to “N” on Friday said all sides involved — the Greek government, the IMF, European creditors, the Eurogroup of Eurozone members — have shifted from their initial positions and appear more open to a compromise, even as the unresolved issues remain.
As far as the embattled Greek government is concerned, the best-case result to emerge from Monday’s Eurogroup meeting in Brussels is a decision for a return creditors’ representatives and technocrats to Athens. Although no Cabinet member in the leftist government will publicly state the obvious, the Tsipras government does recognizes that there is little time remaining to converge positions of creditors and Athens by the Monday meeting.
Nevertheless, the leftist-rightist coalition estimates that “conditions exit” for at least a political decision to be taken at the Eurogroup. This view was prominently expressed by Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos throughout the past week, as the latter added though that the key remains the IMF’s stance.
The 12 issues, or obstacles, that need resolution include:
- Wrapping up a handful of major privatizations in the country
- Collective bargaining, which the government wants to re-establish as an obligatory process for negotiations between employers’ groups and unions; something the IMF opposes
- Liberalization of the energy sector
- Implementing no less that 230 OECD recommendations to boost competition in Greece
- Legislation aimed to control health-related spending in the state budget
- The out-of-court framework to settle outstanding debts and arrears
- Corporate governance for Greece’s four systemic banks
- Opening up so-called “closed professions” in Greece
- Legal revisions for land uses (zoning) and the utterly delayed and sputtering project to finally establish a unified, functional and digitalized land registry (cadastre) in the country
- Reform of the special salary scales for law enforcement and military personnel
- Modernizing and expanding the framework of electronic (online) auctions for foreclosed property, and finally,
- A stricter regime for political parties’ financing.
