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New proposals on way, focus on five key areas I Kathimerini, Athens, May 16 <http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_16/05/2015_550084> Greece is due to finish sending on Saturday its latest proposals to the country’s lenders in the hope that it will have a response by the beginning of next week and that talks in Brussels can resume with the aim of concluding a deal that would unlock another 7.2 billion euros in bailout funding. Kathimerini understands that there are five key areas in which Athens and its creditors are still some distance apart and will have to work on over the next few days. These are macroeconomic forecasts, fiscal targets, new measures, labor market reforms and pension cuts. Greece and the institutions appear to have converged on the growth forecast for this year, with both sides predicting the economy will expand by 0.5 percent. On fiscal targets, there also appears to be a meeting of minds. The primary surplus target for this year is expected to be between 1 and 1.5 percent, rising to 1.5 to 2 percent next year and to 3.5 percent from 2017. With regards to new measures to cover this year’s fiscal gap, Athens and its lenders have yet to agree on a comprehensive package. It will, however, include an overhaul of Greece’s value-added tax. It is likely that there will be just two, rather than the current three, rates. The top rate is set to be between 18 and 20 percent, while the lower rate between 8 and 9 percent. The government is also considering leaving in place the solidarity tax on incomes above 30,000 euros without the 30 percent reduction that the previous coalition had introduced. Other taxes may also be introduced. Greece and its lenders seem far apart on the issue of labor reform as the government insists that collective contracts should be reintroduced and that the institutions’ demands for relaxing the restrictions on mass dismissals should not be met. On pensions, the government is proposing the scrapping of early pensions as an alternative to introducing the “zero deficit” rule, which would mean stopping public subsidies to pension funds. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis insisted that “no red lines have been crossed” by the Greek side so far. However, on Thursday night Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragaskis was on the receiving end of heavy criticism regarding the government’s negotiating strategy when he met with members of SYRIZA’s political secretariat. Tsipras hoping to persuade his ministers on deal I Kathimerini, Athens, May 16 http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_16/05/2015_550107 People close to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras remain confident that the vast majority of SYRIZA MPs will back any deal with lenders despite the objections that have been raised over the past few days regarding the content of negotiations. Tsipras presided over two lengthy cabinet meetings last week, when a number of ministers raised concerns about the issues being discussed with the institutions, particularly labor and pension reforms. However, sources said that Tsipras believes he can ensure the necessary support for any agreement by convincing his ministers that it is the best deal his government can get. His biggest concern is about how the leader of SYRIZA’s left-wing, Energy Minister Panayiotis Lafazanis, will react. Lafazanis was said not to have been particularly vociferous in the meetings, stressing simply that the coalition should not cross its “red lines.” The prime minister believes that if he is able to talk Lafazanis around then it will lead to most, if not all, MPs belonging to the minister’s Left Platform voting for the deal. However, if Tsipras sees that he cannot get the necessary support for a deal from his own party, he may consider putting the agreement to a referendum. The possibility of a vote has been played down over recent days by government officials but this does not mean Tsipras might not turn to it as a final option. [Lafazanis apparently has gone along with further privatization of Port of Piraeus which he earlier opposed. dayne] Greece came close to not paying IMF I Kathimerini, Athens, May 17 <http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_17/05/2015_550106> The Greek government is hoping that it will be able to reach a technical agreement with lenders this week, paving the way for it to receive the funds that would allow it to continue meeting its obligations. The difficulty the coalition is facing in servicing its debt and paying pensions and salaries was highlighted by events a few days ago, when – as Kathimerini can reveal – Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote to International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde to inform her that Athens would not be able to pay the 750 million euros due to the Fund on May 12 unless the European Central Bank allowed Greece to issue T-bills. Kathimerini understands that the letter, sent on Friday, May 8, was also delivered to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and ECB President Mario Draghi. Sources also said that Tsipras called US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to inform him of the situation. It was only over the weekend that a decision to pay the IMF was taken after it emerged that Greece could use some 650 million euros denominated in Special Drawing Rights issued by the IMF and held in a reserve account to meet the debt repayment. The government provided another 90 million euros from other sources to make the payment on May 12. . . . French MEP Mélenchon: Greece Used as an Example to Show ‘How Those who Resist Are Treated’ by A. Makris Greek Reporter, May 17, 2015 <http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/05/17/french-mep-melenchon-greece-used-as-an-example-to-show-how-those-who-resist-are-treated> French MEP Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in an interview to French newspaper “l’Humanite,” explained that the reason why he decided to support Greece in his book “Le Hareng de Bismarck” [Bismarck's Herring] is Europe’s stance toward Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Mélenchon said that he took the decision to write this book as he was outraged by the German government’s behavior and by the fact that French president Francois Hollande does not react. “It is a serious political mistake against the European ideal to allow such a treatment toward an EU member state,” he noted. Mélenchon added that Greece is used as an example to show “how those who resist are treated.” (source: ana-mpa) [Athens News Agency - Macedonia Press Agency, Athens and Thessaloniki] Greek FinMin Varoufakis: “We Can’t Impose Our Positions but We Will Fight” by A. Makris Greek Reporter, May 16 <http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/05/16/greek-finmin-varoufakis-we-cant-impose-our-positions-but-we-will-fight> The government’s aim in the negotiations with the creditors is to stop the self-reinforcing crisis and redistribute the burdens, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis stressed on Friday in statements to ‘ERTOpen’ [self-managed broadcaster created when previous/Samaris gov't closed ERT public broadcaster] . He also underlined that the government had not yet crossed any of its so-called “red lines” and that all issues were still on the table. “None of the issues have yet closed and until they are closed, there is nothing,” the minister added. “The people elected us to accept the cost of a drawn-out negotiation,” Varoufakis stated. Replying to those pushing for a full-on clash with the creditors, he stressed that this was not the reason why he was elected, just as he hadn’t been elected to “implement the Hardouvelis e-mail." [Eurozone stance of previous FinMin] “We are trying to create a framework for an agreement. When this takes shape, we will go to the organs and ask ‘Are we agreed?’. If not, then there is no agreement. If yes, then responsibility is collective,” he said. He denied that the government was seeking a confrontation in the negotiations, noting that negotiation meant compromise, but also emphasized that it would not simply give in. “We do not have the means to impose our positions but neither will we give in without a fight,” he said, adding that the problem is political. He also noted that unless the Greek side was willing to entertain the idea of a falling out, then it would simply cave in and submit to the creditors’ demands, as the previous governments had done. Regarding Greece ‘s contacts with other countries, Varoufakis said that the negotiations with Greece’s EU partners concerned an issue that “remains in the European family and must be solved there”. “Greece does, of course, have bilateral relations and on the basis of our mutual interests makes agreements, transactions and trades based on our view of human rights,” he said. On the privatisation of Greece’s regional airports, the finance minister said he was unaware of any other country where all the regional airports had been sold to one company without any state participation. “This would not happen in Germany,” he pointed out. Varoufakis also ruled out elections and, on the issue of a referendum, he noted there was provision for this within Greece’s Constitution, so that the Greek people could decide their future in relation to major issues, and that “it is not at all bad to think about the possibility…” (source: ana-mpa) _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
