Several eurozone finance ministers’ claimed after the Eurogroup meeting on Monday that Greece did not submit any specific proposals. In response to these claims, the Greek side published the s0-called Varoufakis’ file containing the Finance Minister’s speeches in the two eurogroup meetings in February with Greece’s proposals as well as the drafts submitted by EU COmmissioner Piere Moscovici and Eurogroup Head Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
The 30-page file has been uploaded on the online edition of To Vima.
The file contains two speeches of the Greek Finance Minister at the Eurogroup meetings of February 11th and 16th, two non papers submitted by the Greek side to these meetings, specific references for the results of the works of the technical teams of both sides (February 13th and 14th) as well as the draft submitted by EU Commissioner Pierre Moscovici but also the draft submitted by Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem that was rejected by Greece.
The file contains also
– a study for the Greek debt sustainability, (i.e. 120% of GDP in 2020),
– funding requests for a transitional period of 4-6 months,
– three commitments of the Greek government to its lenders,
– the request for a primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP for 2015
– four “red lines”.
– seven reforms proposals to combat tax evasion, overspending etc; the reforms to be applied in cooperation with the OECD.
The Greek government estimated the financing needs [for 2015?] to pay installments to lenders as €17 billion that will be covered with the assistance of EFSF and IMF.
The Greek side asked:
primary surplus 1.5% of GDP for 2015financial needs of €17 billion: assistance through a “more flexible” ELA and the Eurosystem, permission to issue additional Treasury bills, additional IMF reimbursements, the use of unused funds from EFSF, €1.9 billion from the profit from Greek bonds, modification of target “€2.2 billion from privatizations,” which the Greek side considers as “impossible for 2015.”
Debt sustainability: the Greek side speaks of “misunderstanding” and cites own estimations of the net present value of debt, according to which, with a primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP and nominal growth of 4%, the debt projection fall to 120% of GDP in 2020.
In return, Greece offered three conditionality commitments:
-keep the conditions of the loan agreement
– no action that could compromize the budget or have implications for financial stability (at various text points there is reference to ‘unilateral actions’ such as rehiring of cleaners and measures to tackle the humanitarian crisis, however stressing that these measures will be substituted with other equavalent measures.)
– no action towards a “haircut” of the nominal value of the debt
However, the Greek side stated that it will not proceed to measures considered as “recession measures” like pension cuts and V.A.T increases.
Structural reforms
At the Eurogroup meeting of Feb 16th the Greek side pledged to proceed to structural reforms in cooperation withe the OECD and implement reforms in seven areas with main objectives being combat tax evasion and corruption, reform of public administration:
tackle bureaucracy, independent tax administration, reform of bankruptcy law, efficient and fair tax system, competitive and healthy environment in the field of broadcasting that enhances the transparency and tax revenues, dissolve the many cartels.
Technical teams
As for the results of the work of Greek and technical teams from IMF, EU and ECB (Feb 13-14,2015), there is reference that:
“With regards to the structural reforms, good progress has been made in identifying areas where the Greek authorities can support the current reform agenda: tax reform, revenue collection reform, management of public finances, tackling corruption, e-government, reform of public procurement, improving the business environment, judiciary reform, implementation of EU legislation on industrial networks and competitive sectors.”
The Greek side reportedly stressed that
“time is needed in the coming weeks so that the government can proceed to a more detailed assessment of the ongoing reforms. The Greek government is fully committed to continue its efforts in these areas. It considers as an essential element of the mandate to accelerate the implementation of determined policies that the previous government failed to implement: determined fight against tax evasion, tackling corruption and reforming public administration. It is ready to commit to short-term implementation of key policies “.
Short summary in Greek here
Full File of Varoufakis’ speeches and the other documents in English To Vima.gr in pdf.
Bridge Program page 6, Debt Sustainability, page 23, Moscovici’s draft page 27, Dijsselbloem’s draft page 28-29.
