By the end of July the Greek Finance Ministry will have had to begin implementing the new austerity measures laid out in the Medium-Term Plan passed by the Socialist government in cooperation with the country’s creditors. Furthermore, it will have to race against the clock because by the end of 2011 it will have to have raked in 6.8 billion euros to fill the “black hole” in tax revenue. Apparently all this will be dealt with by the EU Commissioners who are expected to arrive in Athens shortly, as announced by Eurogroup President Jean Claude Junker.
The agreement between the EU and the Greek government also provides for the setup of an Inter-ministerial Commission which will monitor the institutional reforms launched. There will also be working groups, which will be run by a Greek technocrat with the help of an advisor chosen by Brussels; they will have to report back to the Commission every 3 months on the progress of the reforms. In the coming days, the Privatisation office is also due to be set up: this is a prerequisite without which European capital from the new aid package to Greece will not be disbursable. Further, as promised by Financer Minister Evangelos Venizelos, soon the debate on the new tax system, to be ready by fall, will begin soon. Meanwhile, according to economy publication ‘Naftemporiki’, the first list of 350 buildings owned by the Greek state and destined to be “exploited” is already ready and will be published in the next few days. Based on the Medium-Term Plan, the sale of said properties will earn the government between 15 and 17 billion euros by December 2013. The remaining 33-35 billion needed to hit the 50 billion mark, to which Athens has committed, will have to enter the coffers between 2013-2015.
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