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This article was published May 12, 2015 at 6:36.
BRUSSELS
Greece’s international creditors have warned again yesterday that the Mediterranean country despite recent “progress” in the talks ahead of the disbursement of new aid, the gap between the parties is still too large to provide additional financial support to Athens. The stance came as Germany, surprisingly, were in favor of the choice to ask the Greek voters to approve the future agreement, however, still far away.
“We welcome the progress made so far – said the chairman of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem -. At the same time, more time and more efforts are needed to reduce the gap ‘between the parties. The politician stressed that Greece and its creditors have a “common interest” to reach an agreement as quickly as possible. There is no agreement on pension reform, reform of the labor market, and even the budgetary targets from 2015 to 2016.
Just last week, the Commission published new forecasts of public finances showing in Greece to a dramatic deterioration in the deficit and the economy (see Il Sole 24 Ore of 6 May). In light of the poor performance of public accounts circulating for some time rumors about an upcoming third aid program. Dijsselbloem yesterday stressed that this hypothesis will be discussed only after the conclusion of the memorandum expiring at the end of June.
The finance ministers of the euro zone met yesterday here in Brussels for a scheduled meeting of ‘Eurogroup which received an update of the talks between Greece and the three creditor institutions: the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. The monetary institution does depend on an agreement the possibility of increasing the ceiling on emissions of Treasury bonds by the Government, now limited to 15 billion Euros.
For now, the progress of the talks It can not seem to allow the ECB to raise the emissions cap, one of the most urgent demands of the greek government. In a press conference the Minister of Finance greek Yanis Varoufakis said also yesterday that the liquidity situation is “urgent” – to be resolved “within a few weeks” – and asked that the monetary institution should review the roof of government funding to help scratch the spiraling debt and deflation.
So far, the partners of Greece have always rejected the idea of blocking a popular vote on a future agreement with creditors, in their eyes a source of uncertainty markets. Berlin has changed its mind. “If the government greek believes he has to organize a referendum, why do it”, said yesterday the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. “It could be a useful measure to allow the greek people to decide if it is ready to accept what is needed, or if they want something different.”
Obviously, Germany sees the possibility of a referendum a way to Greece before its responsibilities, while the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said publicly that his economic policy strategy and its negotiating tactics with international creditors are fully supported by the electorate greek. This is a delicate moment. The more time passes, the more the country is at risk of a liquidity crisis.
The talks on a new package of economic measures should serve to Greece to conclude the memorandum expiring at the end of June and tear new aid for 7.2 billion euro. For weeks, the negotiations are slow even for the obvious contradictions between the political demands of international creditors and the electoral commitments of the government Tsipras. Yesterday while Greece has repaid a loan received at the time by the IMF for a total of 750 million euro.
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