Troika accepts replacement of civil servants to be sacked
The troika has reportedly accepted the hiring of 1,000 new civil servants to replace the departure of as many public sector employees who have broken the code of conduct, during talks with the Greek prime minister at his office in Athens on Sunday.
The thorny issue of civil servants is a prior action required for the disbursement of the March and April bailout tranches, and the representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund appear to have given their consent to the Greek plan for the replacement of those to be sacked, according to Skai radio.
The hirings will be conducted through the established system of ASEP.
Talks will continue on the implementation of this and on other issues.
On the subject of the merger between National Bank and Eurobank, the troika appears to be seeking guarantees from the Greek government that the recapitalization of the new group to emerge from the tie-up will not require any additional funds to those set aside for the two banks.
After the conclusion of talks with the troika the PM also had a lengthy consultation with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras.
“There is progress in various issues, but there are also some problems,” said Stournaras, who in the evening will have another meeting with the troika representatives.
Samaras further had telephone conversations with coalition partners Evangelos Venizelos of PASOK and Fotis Kouvelis of the Democratic Left on the outcome of the meeting.
The government has asked for the disbursement of the March installment of the bailout loans amounting to 2.8 billion euros and then the release of the April tranche of 6 billion to deal with the state’s urgent needs, but the troika appears to prefer both installments to be disbursed probably in May.
