Proposals come under scrutiny of Parliament, creditors
A proposal drafted by the Greek government as the basis of a deal with the country’s creditors was approved at the committee level in Parliament on Friday and was expected to be debated at the plenary session late at night ahead of a vote early on Saturday morning.
The proposal, which includes Greek concessions to creditors on taxes and pensions, triggered protests by many in the government. But Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told his MPs that the government faced “crucial decisions” and had to strive for a deal.
“We have a mandate from the Greek people to bring a better agreement than the Eurogroup’s ultimatum,” he said. “We don’t have a mandate to take the country out of the eurozone.”
Representatives of Greece’s creditors on Friday perused the details of the government’s proposal in a bid to reach an assessment of its viability as a basis for talks and to present it to successive sessions of the Euro Working Group and the Eurogroup due on Saturday.
Although a series of European officials appeared to welcome the proposal yesterday, particularly the French, who helped Greece draft its proposal, an analysis of the document is said to have yielded some doubts about its comprehensiveness, with sources suggesting that creditors will likely seek more concessions from Athens.
Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde discussed the plan during a teleconference call on Friday. A European official indicated that the creditors would issue their assessment by late last night. Lagarde is to attend today’s Eurogroup.
A key concern is the stance that will be taken by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who has been among the sternest critics of the current government’s stance and progress in negotiations.
Meanwhile, the parties in Germany’s ruling coalition government sent mixed signals about Greece’s proposal.
The Social Democrats (SPD) hailed Greece’s concessions. “This is a very important step forward, though it could have been taken long ago,” Axel Schaefer, a top SPD MP, told Reuters, saying a Greek exit from the eurozone would be “lunacy.”
