Greek PM to meet troika chiefs on Sunday
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is to meet the chiefs of the troika mission to Greece at 11 a.m. on Sunday, sources close to the premier said on Friday.
Samaras is expected to discuss with the foreign envoys all the outstanding issues that must be resolved if Greece is to secure two tranches of rescue funding — a 2.8-billion-euro installment that had been due for release in March and the next tranche which is worth 6 billion euros. The pending issues include the government’s new proposal for the replacement of an emergency property tax with a new unified levy, a delayed overhaul of the civil service and a merger of National Bank of Greece and Eurobank to which troika officials are said to harbor objections.
In comments on Thursday, Samaras said he discerned the first signs of a recovery in Greece, noting that hirings had outstripped redundancies last month for the first time since the crisis erupted three years ago.