Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos sent a letter to Greece’s creditors saying that the Greek government positions will be presented orally in Thursday’s Eurogroup, as sources close to Maximos Mansion say that Athens is ready to make concessions in order to close the second evaluation of the bailout program.
There are several measures and reforms required by the bailout program that Greece has not implemented yet. As a result the second review of the program has not been completed yet, even though it was scheduled to close in October 2016.
The main focus of the letter Tsakalotos sent, according to government officials, is for the two sides “to find a common ground in the January 26 Eurogroup.”
According to a Real.gr report citing government sources, there are disagreements within the administration regarding the extent of the concessions Athens is willing to make in order to close the review. Especially on the issue of accepting primary surpluses of 3.5% beyond 2018.
The government has already announced it is willing to accept the primary surplus of 3.5% for 2019, but not further than that.
Further disagreements have to do with Tsakalotos announcing that the government is not willing to lower the tax-free threshold for low incomes, while at the same time Economy Minister Dimitris Papadimitriou said the opposite publicly.
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