Yanis Varoufakis assured that in recent weeks there was a great convergence in the negotiations, but of the Eurogroup meeting held this Friday in Riga, Latvia, the news that came out were a climate of strong criticism of the Greek Minister of Finance for part of their colleagues from the rest of the euro zone.
Bloomberg agency that advances at the Eurogroup meeting, which lasted a little longer than expected, the discussion about the Greek situation has led to several ministers openly criticized the way Yanis Varoufakis and the Greek government have been acting. They accused him of pursuing a strategy of loss very dangerous time and showed their dissatisfaction that the Greek Prime Minister have tried, along with Angela Merkel, “go over” the decisions that the Eurogroup has to be taken with regard to Greek program.
The Eurogroup members have also made clear that are not available to accept a partial granting of the loan to solve short-term financing needs of Greece.
In the conference press following the meeting, the President of the Eurogroup, the Dutchman Jeroen Dijsselbloem was asked if there had been an attack on Varoufakis by his colleagues at the meeting. Dijsselbloem not denied:. “I have to be honest, it was a very critical discussion,” he told journalists
The President of the Eurogroup has repeatedly stressed that “time is running out” for Greece, and although he noted that there is some progress, said remains “big, big problems.” “We have come to expect today to hear about a positive result and an agreement so that we could make a decision, but we are still far from that possibility,” he said.
Next, Yanis Varoufakis gave his conference press, trying to pass a greater optimism message. The Greek Minister afrimou that “there was a clear indication that the process of negotiations converged in recent weeks.” Two areas of convergence referred to by Varoufakis are the privatization and the reform of the justice system.
However, on issues such as the attachment of immovable by banks or the target for the primary budget surplus recognized there are differences between the Greek government and the troika. And confirmed that Greece supports the “partial delivery” of the loan at this stage, in exchange for “a list of shorter reforms.”
Saying where Athens is open to any suggestions to accelerate the process of negotiations, Varoufakis said a deal was inevitable. “The agreement will be difficult, but it will happen, and quickly because there is no other way out,” he said.
The message Varoufakis
Before the meeting, the minister Greek had already exposed their ideas in a text published in some newspapers and on your blog.
“Greece and its European and international partners have already agreed on many things,” he wrote, arguing that the current disagreement with our partners can be overcome. ” And to reinforce this position assured that his government is ready to concessions that before did not include: “rationalize the pension system (limiting, for example, early retirement), continue to partial privatization of public assets, creating a completely independent budget committee “.
The Minister also wrote that” the tax system has to be changed, and the authorities must be free of political influence and business “- one of the last responsible for the tax system resigned in the year past, saying after he had been the target of threats and political pressure
But also drew a red line on you can do:. “The labor market has been devastated by the crisis and is deeply segmented, without productivity growth “Varoufakis said, stressing that it is not possible to carry out more cuts in wages and pensions, as lenders want.
also rejected what he called as” the trap of austerity “, by linking the budgetary targets a predetermined target for the debt ratio against the gross domestic product (GDP). Instead, the Greek finance minister proposes “a long-term plan based on reasonable expectations in relation to primary surpluses consistent with growth rates and expansion of exports which would stabilize the Greek economy and the debt-GDP”.
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