By T. Tsiros
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The updated itinerary for finally concluding a delayed second review of the Greek program has creditors' auditors returning to Athens on Tuesday with a goal to complete a staff-level agreement by May Day.
Athens will have to agree on the contents of the separate memoranda, the first with European creditors -- essentially the second review of the current third bailout, which itself dates to August 2015. Conversely, the leftist-rightist coalition government in Athens must reach a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) with the IMF, which will extend to the summer of 2018. The current bailout, in fact, ends on the last day of August in 2018.
According to reports, the Greek side already has two draft copies of the separate memoranda in its possession, as negotiations with creditors' representatives this week are expected to revolve around these two texts.
Based on the timetable discussed in Washington D.C. over the weekend on the sidelines of the annual World Bank and IMF spring meetings, creditors' negotiators will depart Athens on Friday -- assuming that the final details have been concluded.
Under the most positive scenario, the Tsipras government will then have to pass the latest austerity measures in legislation submitted to Parliament for ratification. The next "unofficial deadline", as repeatedly cited since April 7, is now the May 22 Eurogroup meeting.
