Negotiations between the Greek government’s top ministers and international leaders focusing directly on the still unresolved issue of a first review for the Greek program (third bailout) shifted to Washington D.C. over the weekend, on the occasion of the IMF’s annual spring meeting.
The meetings, the latest being between Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem with Greek FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos and Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis, come on the heels of top IMF executive Poul Thomsen’s very public position that without an additional 8.1 billion euros in measures – on top of a package of 5.4 billion euros already decided – Greece will not be able to achieve a 3.5-percent primary budget surplus in 2018.
Saturday’s meeting came after Tsakalotos met with powerful German FinMin Wolfgang Schauble on Friday evening here. Very little was said after the meeting, with the Greek minister merely noting that Schauble remained unconvinced for the need to begin debt relief talks for Greece.
Earlier, the influential German minister repeated that the priority remains for the leftist Greek government to implement reforms, with any debt relief prospects to follow.
The Greek side is also scheduled to have meetings with US Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew and ECB head Mario Draghi.
