A previously unscheduled visit by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Paris on Wednesday for a meeting with French President Francois Hollande reportedly revolved around Athens’ annoyance with the fact that a first review of the Greek program has not been achieved – a development directly affecting the recession-plagued Greek economy.
A previously unscheduled visit by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Paris on Wednesday for a meeting with French President Francois Hollande reportedly revolved around Athens’ annoyance with the fact that a first review of the Greek program has not been achieved – a development directly affecting the recession-plagued Greek economy.
If previous statements are any indication, Tsipras repeated his government’s positions of delays being the product of internal disagreements between lenders – European institutions vs. the IMF – whereas underlining that Athens has implemented last July’s memorandum obligations.
The leftist Greek government has pointed to revisions of the IMF’s projections for recession in Greece – now at 0.2 percent for 2016 as opposed to a previous estimate for -2.3 percent – while downplaying the tabled draft legislation on tax measures and pension reforms as the “government’s volition to decide on how the burdens (taxes and pension cuts) will be distributed.”
A German spokesman in Berlin on Wednesday, when asked about Tsipras’ meetings this week with Hollande and EP President Martin Schulz in Strasbourg, merely replied that contacts between the Greek leader and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are “sufficient”.
Meanwhile, sources in Brussels told “N” on Wednesday that European institutions are not overly concerned with the abrupt tabling of tax and pension reform bills by the Greek government without lenders’ knowledge or approval.
A Commission spokesman appeared optimistic that resumed negotiations in Washington, on the sidelines of the spring IMF meeting, will be successful.
In terms of debt relief, ESM chief Klaus Regling this week stressed that the issue of debt relief for Greece will depend on whether the “numbers add up” and how the Greek economy grows.