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GreekReporter.comGreek NewsEconomyTsakalotos to Address Restructuring Greece's Budgetary Surplus Targets at Eurogroup Meeting on...

Tsakalotos to Address Restructuring Greece's Budgetary Surplus Targets at Eurogroup Meeting on Monday

Euclid Tsakalotos Greece’s Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos is off to Brussel’s to attend Monday’s Eurogroup meeting.
Even though Greece is not one of the main topics of discussion scheduled to be addressed at the meeting, Tsakalotos will bring to the table the subject of changing and lowering the budgetary surplus targets that Athens has to meet after 2018.
Greece is trying to scale down its 3.5 percent of GDP budgetary surplus in a gradual scheme before its required deadline of 2018. The aim is to set a new GDP budgetary surplus to 2.5 percent in the period stretching from 2019 to 2021 and down to 2 percent from 2022 onward.
It is expected that Tsakalotos will meet much opposition to his proposals from some northern European countries such as Finland and Germany to name a couple who have already expressed oppositions to restructuring any budgetary targets.
For the time being, Germany has stated that it will not begin any talks about restructuring the budgetary surplus before elections are held there in 2017, however Greek government officials and specifically the New Democracy party, has stressed urgency for more relaxed budgetary targets.
Also, in light of Brexit, Germany is using marketplace uncertainties to justify their opposition.
“They are not saying an outright ‘No.’ They are just saying that now is not the time to open the discussion,” a government source said to ekathimerini.com.
Although Greece’s midterm program legislation is due to be ready around July 18, without specific deals on budgetary targets the program might see a stall in implementation.
Although previous attempts to delay implementation of programs that are part of Greece’s bailout have proven to backfire in the past, in light of the recent Brexit the Greek government is hoping that they might have some newfound leverage since the last thing that is wanted in the EU is to create more uncertainty in the marketplace.

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