Greece’s creditors differ on certain items on the list of proposed measures Athens has presented while they are worried about final parliamentary approval.
The troika of Greece’s creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — are negotiating non-stop with the Greek team in order to reach a staff level agreement to take to the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday evening (today).
The IMF “thinks that the numbers are too soft,” a European Union source said, referring to the fiscal targets, pensions and value added tax rates under discussion,according to a euobserver report. While European creditors believe that the Greek proposal is in line with their requirements, the IMF reportedly demands targets closer to the memorandum of understanding Greece signed in 2012.
“The institutions need to sit around a table and work out an agreement” in time for the Eurogroup on Wednesday, the source said.
In any of these four countries, an agreement considered too favorable to Greece could fail to get the green light, according to the report.
At the same time, a deal too favorable to creditors could fail to be endorsed by the Greek House. There have been disagreements within the Alexis Tsipras government over the harshness of some of the measures. A favorable vote in the Greek parliament could also suffice to convince other European parliaments to vote positively.
There is scepticism in some countries because the Greek bailout program took so long to implement and several parliaments will not validate the deal before Greece takes “prior action.”
Prior actions include passing the value added tax rates proposed and reforms in pension laws.
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