Unable to reach a deal before a Dec. 9 meeting of Eurozone finance chiefs, Greece is reportedly hoping to come to an agreement with international lenders over delayed reforms and the size of 2014 budget hole beforeĀ a gathering of European Union leaders on Dec. 20. That will come after another Eurogroup meeting Dec. 18-19.
Envoys from the Troika of the EU-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank have canceled plans to return to Athens this week saying the differences were too big to bridge.
The Greek government is playing unusually stubborn even though the Troika hasn’t given the okay for the release of a delayed one billion euro ($1.37 billion) installment.
Among issues on the table are whether to lift a ban on foreclosures to let banks seize the homes of people who can’t pay their mortgages because of crushing austerity measures, a new property tax, how to fill a budget hole of as much as 1.5 billion euros ($2.03 billion,) public worker firings and whether to close or sell off the money-bleedingĀ Hellenic Defense Systems (EAS).
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader, wants to end the mortgage foreclosure moratorium but is being pressed by his partner and Deputy PM, PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, who said he wants to find a way to separate and protect those who really can’t pay from those taking advantage of the ban.
Ironically, it was Venizelos who doubled property taxes while serving as finance minister in a previous government, putting an additional burden on Greeks already besieged by big pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions that he and Samaras endorse.
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