The leftist Tsipras government is apparently "doubling down" this week on the prospect of both achieving a second review of the Greek program (third bailout) by the unofficial Dec. 5 deadline and even getting debt relief talks launched at the same time.
Speaking in Parliament during an obligatory session on the draft 2017 budget, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos pointed to the coming Eurogroup meeting as a "landmark" for Athens to achieve specific and major goals: a successful second review of its ongoing (third) bailout program; commencement of discussions by creditors over substantive debt relief; revision - downwards - of fiscal targets after 2018, when the program ends, and even a re-acceptance of Greek bonds in the ECB's QE program.
Tsakalotos said December 2016 is the most crucial period since the summer of 2015, when the leftist government concluded six-months of futile negotiations with creditors only to call a snap referendum over a deal offered by the latter at the time. A resounding "no" was the answer given by voters in the July 5 referendum, followed by leftist government's subsequent "about face" and a snap election in early September. The imposition of capital controls was another negative fall-out from the period.
Meanwhile, the government spokesman, during a regular press briefing, mostly echoed the Tsakalotos' "final stretch" towards Dec. 5, saying there is no "Plan B" but only a target for the Eurogroup meeting.
"We are working hard for an agreement by the end of the week... it is possible and necessary to reach an agreement by Dec. 5," Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said.
The increasingly embattled leftist-rightist government and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who departed Athens in the early morning hours to attend a memorial service on Thursday in Havana for Fidel Castro, are desperately seeking tangible progress on the economic front amid a year punctuated by decisions for more austerity measures -- primarily increased taxes, social security, spending cuts contributions and pension reforms.
