By N. Bellos
Institutional creditors have still not received word from the Greek government as to whether the latter accepts the latest proposal by the former, which was tabled last Friday, something that means a return of creditors' negotiators to Athens has no fixed date.
The development leaves less than a week before a Feb. 20 Eurogroup meeting, which has previously been cited as an unofficial deadline for concluding the now delayed second review of the Greek bailout program.
The lack of a fixed return date was conveyed on Monday by a Euro zone source in Brussels, who is close to the negotiations. The same official declined to make any forecast for the coming period.
A Community source last week said that if negotiators do not return to Athens by Tuesday, Feb. 14, then the situation will become increasingly difficult for achieving an agreement by Feb. 20 at the staff level.
A joint proposal by creditors last week sent to the increasingly unpopular Tsipras government foresees "precautionary measures" of up to 2 percent of GDP, which comes out to roughly 3.6 billion euros. By "precautionary" creditors mean the enactment of austerity measures now in order to ensure that fiscal targets after 2018 are achieved by whatever Greek government is in power.
One compromise offered by creditors is to enact half the measures now, and the other half after 2018.
The measures would kick in if fiscal targets, especially 3.5 percent primary budget surplus targets after 2018, appear fleeting.
