Athens ANA-MPA news agency: Commission sources predict cancellation of pension cuts
Greece's creditors have found that the country's social security system has reached sustainable levels and planned pension cuts from next year will therefore not be necessary, reports have suggested.
Citing sources from the European Commission, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Friday reported that after meeting with Finance Ministry officials in Athens, representatives of the institutions have found that not only can the planned reductions to pensions be postponed, as the government had initially hoped, but can be scrapped altogether.
The officials reportedly presented auditors with data from the EFKA social security foundation pointing to a surplus without slashing pension further, evidence that a fiscal cushion foreseen in the government's medium-term program will exceed the planned 700 million euros in 2019 and also a series of countermeasures for the next four years to add more fiscal breathing room.
However, the decision still has to be green-lighted by the Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers on November 5. Also in November, the European Commission is expected to publish its first report on the implementation of reforms since Greece exited its bailout program in August.
