Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday in an effort to find a political solution to prevent additional fiscal measures for the completion of Greece’s bailout review.
The two state leaders spoke on the telephone with Tsipras arguing that the additional, precautionary fiscal measures worth 2.7 billion euros creditors proposed are beyond what the two sides agreed on in July 2015. Lenders proposed the need for the additional measures in case the package of measures that would bring 5.4 billion euros in revenues is not enough for the country to meet its fiscal targets.
According to government sources, Tsipras told the German Chancellor that institutions should not insist on new fiscal measures on a country that shoulders an already heavy load. As an argument that the additional measures will not be needed, Tsipras underlined the positive performance of the Greek economy, which is expected to be announced on Thursday by Eurostat. The Greek prime minister said this should be counted in the negotiations. Tsipras said that Greece did better than the budgetary target set for 2015.
Tsipras also said that Athens will discuss additional fiscal measures only after the bailout program review is completed and the two sides negotiate the debt relief issue. Before that, Athens would refuse additional fiscal measures.
According to government sources, Eurostat is expected to announce a primary surplus of 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent when the objective of the program was a primary deficit of 0.25 percent of GDP.
Government spokesperson Olga Gerovasili stated, “It is obvious that we cannot announce in advance future measures that are not likely to be taken.”
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