​Greece bailout deal can be reached within week, says German commissioner

t’s still possible for Athens and its lenders to reach a deal on a €7.2-billion bailout this week, said Germany’s EU Commissioner Guenter Oettinger, as the June 5 payment deadline looms and talks have so far yielded no results.

"We will need progress at the working group level, in order that we can agree on a reform agenda, perhaps even by the end of the week, which would trigger the payment of the last tranche of aid from the current aid program," the commissioner told Die Welt in an interview published Monday.

The 5-month negotiations have seen progress when it came to reforms such as value-added tax, but vital issues such as the labor market and the pension system are still in stalemate, Oettinger added.
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Read more: Greece bailout deal can be reached within week – German commissioner — RT Business

Greece rejects austerity in tense meeting with eurozone’s bailout chief

The new leftwing Greek government and the man overseeing its bailout operation – the eurozone’s finance chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem – met for the first time in Athens on Friday, and it was a difficult encounter.
Having paid his respects to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Dijsselbloem entered the lion’s den – the Finance Ministry to confront his nemesis.

There, during a one hour meeting, the Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told the Eurogroup President in no uncertain terms the country is done cooperating with its bailout lenders, the so-called troika of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank.

Afterwards at a tense news conference Dijsselbloem tried reasoning: He said: “It is of the utmost importance that Greece remains on a path of recovery. This requires commitments to reform process and to fiscal sustainability. Taking unilateral steps or ignoring previous arrangements is not the way forward.”

Varoufakis was having none of that. He accused the troika of trying “to implement an anti-European programme,” adding “We see no purpose in cooperating with this tripartite committee that the European Parliament has criticised as being built on a rotten structure.”

Varoufakis said he had assured Dijsselbloem that Athens planned to implement reforms to make the economy more competitive and have balanced budgets but that it would not accept a “self-fed crisis” of deflation and non-viable debt.

The news conference ended with an awkward handshake, after which Dijsselbloem headed back to Brussels, not looking at all happy and with apparently no idea what the Greeks will do next to find money to cover around 10 billion euros in debt repayments this summer.

In Athens euronews correspondent Symela Touchtidou concluded: “Since 2010 Greece has received dozens of visits from the troika, as the Greek bailout programme was implemented. Now the new finance minister has firmly declared that those visits belong to the past.”

Read more: Greece rejects austerity in tense meeting with eurozone’s bailout chief | euronews, economy

EU - Economy: Greece prepares to wave goodbye to troika

Greece has had many judgement days over the last year but the latest meeting of the troika could be one of the last.

Inspectors from the EU, ECB and the International Monetary Fund have been gathering to review the country’s progress on economic reforms, and our correspondent says it could be the final gathering if Greece ends its loan dependence.

“The International Monetary Fund is the big thorn in the side of the Greek government that wishes this to be the last time they visit Athens for an audit. With the primary surplus steadily above target, Greece will try to stay away from needing further IMF help. But there’s a long way to go before a definitive decision is made,” said Symela Touchtidou.

Athens has had its successes; besides a primary budget surplus, unemployment has dipped slightly from its record high of 28 percent in June, although it remains among Europe’s highest. Crucially, its economy is set to grow in 2014 after a six-year recession.

The Greek government also remains hopeful after announcing a series of tax relief measures this month for the first time after four years of austerity. The troika will looking to see if the government can compensate for those cuts.

Read more: Greece prepares to wave goodbye to troika | euronews, economy

Greece approved to get next rescue loan payments

Greece passed another hurdle in its bailout program Monday, securing installments of the rescue package that is keeping the cash-strapped country afloat.

Greece's creditors approved the release of 6.8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) in funds over the next few months, provided the country sticks to the reform agenda it agreed to in return for the funds -- including the firing of several thousand civil servants.

Experts from the European Central Bank, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund said Monday that the country's reform program, implemented in exchange for rescue loans, is largely on track, although it's moving too slowly. They also warned that the country's economic outlook remains uncertain.

But they still recommended that the next loan payments be made, and the finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro agreed. Belgian Finance Minister Koen Geens said the loans would be divided into three groups and disbursed in July, August and October.

"Greece is getting on track," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said as he left the meeting in Brussels. "It is not easy for them."

Greece approved to get next rescue loan payments - CBS News