Troika to arrive on Monday for bailout revision talks
The new government is drafting its negotiating blueprint ahead of talks with its official creditors regarding a revision of Greece?s bailout agreement, with inspectors arriving in Athens to see how far behind the fiscal adjustment process has fallen owing to the back-to-back general elections.
Representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — known collectively as the troika — are due to arrive in Greece on Monday for their first talks with the new administration, paving the way for talks on a technical as well as a political level for a bailout adjustment that Greece is keen to secure.
?They will take stock of the situation. On the basis of the guidance we seek, a full troika mission will go to Athens with a view to reaching an agreement on the conditionality that should be reflected in an updated memorandum of understanding,? stated the head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, late on Thursday.
He added that the remainder of the May bailout tranche of 5.2 billion euros, amounting to 1 billion, would be disbursed soon, but Athens will only receive 100 million euros as the rest will go into the escrow account that serves its debt.
The Eurogroup meeting on Thursday postponed any talks on amendments to the bailout agreement until after the issue of the report by the troika at the earliest. The report is expected to be issued ahead of next week?s European Union summit on June 28 and 29.
In Athens the three parties that comprise the new coalition government are putting together a set of proposals for the troika that are aimed at rekindling growth and easing the burden on Greek households and corporations. The government?s arguments will highlight the depth of the recession, which has beaten all forecasts, along with taxpayers? inability to adhere to their tax obligations which, due to the elections, have now been deferred to the second half of the year.
