Having missed a self-imposed deadline to reach an agreement with international lenders, Greek government officials were meeting with them again on March 17 trying to find a resolution over unresolved reform, although too late to get approval of a delayed nine billion euros installment from Eurozone finance chiefs meeting at the same time in Brussels.
Greek Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos had confidently predicted that there would have been a deal by the end of March 16 but he was wrong although Greek officials met with envoys from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) for 14 hours, ending at 5 a.m. the next day without any resolution.
The obstacles remained the same as they have in seven months of sputtering talks, including Greece ‘s lag in firing public workers, delayed privatization, failure to break up professional monopolies, regulations on mass dismissals, the use of the primary surplus and liberalization measures among 153 undone reforms.
A Finance Ministry official told the media that the two sides were aiming to conclude their talks by the end of March 17 despite the lack of progress on almost anything. “We are very close on all the issues,” he said. “I can’t be certain that we are wrapping things up but I don’t rule it out either,” repeating the same message reporters have heard since September of 2013.
Talks have been complicated somewhat by the Troika demanding the dismissal of civil servants in 2015. Until now, the two sides had stuck to a plan for 15,000 public sector workers to be sacked by the end of this year but the government has nixed Troika requests to fire even more.
Greece’s lenders are also insisting that Greece adopt all of the liberalization measures recommended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its so-called “tool-kit.” The government has indicated it is only willing to implement around 80 percent of the measures, which are aimed at enhancing competition.
Another Greek official said “if the Troika agreed, some asterisks on issues concerning the labor sector and other structural reforms that face strong political opposition in Parliament, could remain to be negotiated at a later date.”
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