by talos
Mon Feb 23rd, 2015 at 07:27:12 PM EST
The gvt of Greece had, according to the February 20 deal in the Eurogroup, until today to send a list of "reforms" to its creditors, which would form the basis of a revised program. This has been agreed to be postponed until tomorrow morning [Tuesday 22]. According to a SYRIZA non-paper, translated by Damian Mac Con Uladh here is a general description of what the Greek government will be sending to the Eurogroup FinMins Tuesday:
front-paged by afew
This is what the Greek reform proposals to the Eurogroup are almost certain to contain:
- All of the measures included in the first pillar of the Thessaloniki Programme, concerning the way to address the humanitarian crisis.
- Big parts of the second pillar concerning the recovery of the real economy, with immediate priority given to: the settling of overdue debts, the protection of people with mortgage arrears as well as the ending of foreclosures of first residencies.
- The list includes all the structural reforms of the fourth pillar of the Thessaloniki Programme such as:
a. Fair and just tax system
b. Combating tax evasion
c. Combating entanglement and corruption
d. Combating smuggling (namely of fuel and tobacco)
e. Rebuilding of the public sector- reducing bureaucracy
- Labour reforms, particularly with regard to collective contracts and bargaining agreements [This means labor reforms reinstating collective bargaining, which was dismantled by the troika]
- No reference is made to to the renown OECD toolkit but to the Gurria- Tsipras agreement for necessary structural reforms needed by the country
- Finally, no reference is made of the reinstatement of the laid off workers in the public sector as the relevant minister has already declared that their reinstatement is included in the recruitments already programmed for in the budget. [Under the existing program Greece is allowed to hire up to 15.000 public sector workers, while the workers to be reinstated are around 3500]
As I've said in a comment in another thread:
From what I have seen of the proposal being prepared, I would be pleasantly surprised if it is accepted by the German government. It focuses on administrative and tax collection reform, anti-corruption measures, and efficiency enhancers. Varoufakis and other ministers have guaranteed that no measures on labor market or pensions will be included. If this passes as is, it changes the score on the deal (which is IMHO now a small-score defeat in an away match against a vastly more powerful opponent) and the answer to the thread's question [Did Schäuble win?]
German Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter, in an interview with Paul Mason (more like a mauling actually. Paul Mason was angry) manages to imply that deposits in Greek banks are safe, and seems to be indicating that there won't be too much of a hard ride for an approval:
This remains to be seen, after we see the full list of reforms that the Greek government submitted, and the initial reactions to them.
