THEEurogroup approved the 4-month extension of the aid program for Greece. This was announced on Twitter by Peter Kazimir, Slovak Finance Minister. The meeting took place after Athens sent Brussels the wait last night letter with the list of measures which the Tsipras government intends to adopt as an exception to the previous memorandum with the Troika.
At this point, the understanding must be ratified by a number of National Parliaments, including those of countries hostile to Tsipras' plans (such as Germany, Holland and Finland), as well as by the assembly in Athens itself. Only then will the extension to the plan agreed on Friday with the Eurogroup be released. According to last week's agreement, the letter of commitments presented today will be a basis on which to elaborate the overall reform plan, which must be launched by April.
Il Bundestag German will vote on the agreement with Greece on Friday morning. This was announced by the head of the CDU, Michael Grosse-Broemer, showing himself optimistic about a large majority of votes in favour, despite "some resistance to proceeding with additional payments to Greece".
Shortly before Martin Jaeger, spokesman for the German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, had said that “the letter from Athens does not lead to substantial solutions: it goes in the direction of a bridging loan, without fully responding to the demands of the programme. The letter does not meet the criteria agreed on Monday by the Eurogroup”.
Some reservations on the text were also expressed by the director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, according to which the letter is "a valid starting point", but "in various sectors" there is a lack of reassurances on the reforms envisaged by the Memorandum, in particular VAT, pensions and the continuation of liberalizations, privatizations and labor reform.
