Greece to miss Monday deadline for sending reform list to creditors
Greece will send its economic reform plans to eurozone finance ministers on Tuesday morning, a government official said, missing a Monday deadline for submitting the list which is a condition for extending the country’s bailout programme.
Earlier in the day government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis had said the list, which covers measures such as tackling tax evasion, would go to the Eurogroup by the end of Monday.
However, the official later said: “The list of reforms will be sent to the finance ministers of the Eurogroup on Tuesday morning, while a teleconference will take place in the afternoon.”
The official gave no reason for the delay, but said the Eurogroup had agreed to this.
The government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras staged a climbdown in Brussels on Friday to win the four-month financial lifeline after its bailout expires on Feb. 28. However, the deal depends on the Eurogroup approving the reforms that Athens intends to make.
The list would include measures to tackle Greece’s “humanitarian crisis”, regulate tax arrears and bad loans, and end the foreclosure of primary homes, the official said. It will also include reforms to tackle tax evasion and corruption, fight fuel and tobacco smuggling, restructure the public sector and cut red tape.
Tsipras had promised to scrap the bailout and the austerity policies which the European Union and IMF demanded in return for 240 billion euros in loans.
[Reuters]
