A new German proposal emerges in the negotiations on Greece and freezes the expectations of Athens. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has proposed a five-year Grexit, by which time Athens could restructure its debt. The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes it, according to a preview, quoting a document from the Ministry of Finance. "There is a lack of central areas of reform to modernize the country - reads a position of the ministry - and produce growth and sustainable development in the long term". "The conditions for a new aid program based on 3 years" are missing. But EU diplomatic sources, close to the negotiations and reported by Ansa, cut it short: the idea "cannot be taken seriously" because "it is legally unfeasible, without economic sense and not in line with political reality". This is what EU diplomatic sources close to the negotiations tell ANSA.
Again according to press reports, this time from the Wall Street Journal, Germany has opposed extending the maturity of the loans to Greece to 60 years, as requested by the IMF. The American newspaper quotes some sources according to which the Fund believes that the maturity of loans from the euro area should be doubled from the current 30 years because this would make the Greek debt more manageable and sustainable.
In this climate of chasing voices, the Eurogroup summit opened, late compared to the timetable, which will have to express its opinion on the package of proposals - from pensions to VAT, from tax increases for businesses to privatizations – which yesterday obtained the go-ahead from the Greek parliament and, subsequently, an initial cautiously positive opinion from the European Commission, the IMF and the ECB who subjected it to a preliminary examination before presenting it on today's Eurogroup table. However, the road to an agreement does not seem easy: "I don't see how we can easily reach an agreement: the Greek government has done everything to undermine trust" Wolfgang Schaeuble observed on the sidelines of the meeting.
During the night between Friday and Saturday, at 2.29 to be exact, the Greek parliament voted in favor of the plan of agreement with the creditors proposed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "Now the government has a strong mandate to deal with creditors," said the Greek premier at the end of the vote. Shortly before, according to Corriere della Sera (at 00.47 from Brussels) the troika approved the latest proposal presented by Athens, considering it good enough to be the basis for a new loan of 74 billion, of which 58 from ESM and 16 from IMF. With this yes, the document now passes to the Eurogroup which meets today for political approval.
The parliamentary vote in Athens was full of twists and turns. With some conspicuous defections from members of Syriza, Prime Minister Tsipras' far-left party, Parliament said yes to the 13,5 billion euro plan of reforms and cuts over two years (3,5 more than what was requested by the creditors before last Sunday's referendum).
However, the Tsipras package passed with a very large majority, much larger than the one the government counts on: 251 yes out of 300 deputies, 32 no (including two members of Syriza) and 8 abstentions. Among these, the 90 pieces of the premier's party, starting with the president of Parliament, Zoe Constantopoulou and the energy minister and leader of the left wing of the party, Panagiotis Lafazanis. Both limited themselves to replying "present" at the time of voting, thus expressing neither for nor against.
The Greek parliament approved a motion allowing the government's reform proposals to be used as a basis for negotiations.
