Troika in successive talks in view of March bailout tranche release
Representatives of the troika – as officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are collectively known – were scheduled on Wednesday to participate in successive meetings held at the Finance, Development and Labor ministries in Athens.
The country’s international creditors were expected to discuss pressing issues such as their demands for layoffs in the public sector with Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras, as well as the opening of so-called closed professions, market deregulation and privatizations with Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis.
The coalition government is currently in the process of identifying civil servants who have violated the code of conduct or used false documents to obtain their position, for instance. According to Kathimerini, the Ministries of Finance and Administrative Reform expect that this monitoring will enable the selection of about 7,000 to 8,000 employees who will leave the public sector by 2014.
The measures being discussed are required for the disbursement of the March tranche of the bailout package, worth 2.8 billion euros.
