Ministers hold flurry of talks ahead of troika negotiations in Paris
With just a few days to go before a crucial meeting in Paris with troika representatives, Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis launched a flurry of meetings with key cabinet colleagues on Thursday to finalize the Greek delegation’s negotiating strategy.
Justice Minister Haralambos Athanassiou was due to visit Hardouvelis at his ministry early in the afternoon followed by Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
According to the current plan, the Greek government missions is due to arrive in the French capital on Tuesday and to launch talks with the troika that same evening, focusing on issues such as a projected fiscal gap, the budget execution, Greece’s primary surplus and recent decisions by Greek courts challenging troika-mandated reforms, chiefly cuts to civil servants’ salaries.
The next day, talks are expected to shift to matters concerning the Labor, Development and Administrative Reform Ministries such as a continuing pension overhaul, layoffs in the civil service and the large proportion of non-performing loans held by Greek banks.
Talks are scheduled to be wrapped up on Thursday with the Greek delegation due back in Athens on Thursday night. The next inspection by troika envoys is expected to begin in the last 10 days of September.
