There are no differences between the International Monetary Fund and European creditors over Greece’s bailout, according to a European Union official.
The official told Real.gr that the IMF will participate in Greece’s third bailout program, refuting reports on the contrary.
“Ms. Lagarde (IMF managing director Christine Lagarde) will not participate in Monday’s Eurogroup, but the IMF head of the European Department Mr. (Poul) Thomsen will. The return of the heads of mission to Athens is the decision of all institutions. This will happen when they consider that the conditions are met,” the EU official said.
“Whether the decision will be taken on Monday, shortly before or shortly after (the Eurogroup), it is not something that I can tell with certainty today; they will be the ones to judge. But there is relatively good progress,” the source told Real.gr.
Regarding the alleged differences between Greece’s creditors, the official said: “I do not think it is productive to say who fights against whom, but seeing how the Greek side converges with the institutions. I am optimistic that this will happen. If institutions happen to agree and make a joint assessment. There will not be two teams that ask for different things. There is a key date: the agreement of July 2015. The agreement was that primary surplus for 2018 should be 3.5%. This statement is the basis of the Memorandum. This is what parliaments of (Greece’s) partners voted for and that democratic vote should be taken into account. Obviously, there are many kinds of ways to get the numbers. You can frontload or do annual adjustments to pensions, but the result should be the same,” the source explained.
The EU official added: “We will soon see the final figures for 2015, Eurostat will authorize them, we will see the spring economic forecasts and after that we will see what gaps exist. We will see what estimates are for 2017 and 2018. But when the institutions go to Athens, they will go together. The emphasis is on ‘together.'”
In relation to the refugee crisis and Greece’s effort to link the crisis with the bailout program evaluation, the source said: “We know that has social and financial cost, but the delay of the evaluation would do more harm, as it will delay the liquidity the European Stability Mechanism would allow to the Greek state.”
“If you ask me if pension reforms should be delayed because of your refugee problem, I say no. We must deal with the problems at their root. There is no parameter for pensioners that would change because of the refugees. Everyone I have spoken with agrees that the only way Greece can win is by accelerating reforms and the evaluation.”
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