Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras‘ planned resumption of negotiations with the country’s international lenders, set for Sunday morning, Nov. 17 – the anniversary commemorating the beginning of the end for the ruling military junta in 1974 – have been rescheduled for a day later although no reason was given.
The contentious talks center around a difference of opinion over how big a looming gap in the 2014 budget is – the lenders put it at up to 2.9 billion euros while Greece insisted it was only 500 million euros although the two sides seem ready to settle on a compromise of 1.3 billion.
At stake however is whether the government can find a way to fill it with structural changes, finally going after tax cheats and other reforms, ow whether Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will be forced to break his promise not to impose any more austerity measures.
The Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) is pressing the government to finally deliver on long-delayed pledges on put-off prior actions, such as privatization of state enterprises and opening the monopolies of closed professions and public worker firing while Greece has resorted to its usual delaying tactics of asking for more time.
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