The Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras appeared on Yannis Pretenderis’ late evening chat show on Mega Channel, where he had the opportunity to explain and defend his plans.
Mr. Stournaras explained that the difference between troika and Greece on the extent of the structural measures is about 1 billion euros. The Minister described how the creditor representatives initially demanded 3 billion in measures, but will probably accept 1 billion in stead.
Regarding the budget, Mr. Stournaras claimed that the troika is not against the budget goals, but rather the means by which those goals will be achieved. In that respect, the Finance Minister promised that there would not be any new wage or pension cuts “not now, not in April, not in July”, adding however that “there is still no agreement with the troika”.
When pressed about the 2014 gap, which the ECB estimated to be between 4.5 and 5.5 billion euros, the Minister asserted that a new loan will not be necessary and that the funds left over from the 50-billion-euro package for the bank refinancing could be used instead. Blackrock estimates that about 7 to 8 billion euros were left over.
The Minister claimed that Greece “strongly complained” when the debt issue was postponed for after the elections for European Parliament at the latest Eurogroup and stressed that a primary surplus was achieved a year before troika expectations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to have promised Prime Minister Samaras to address the issue at the Eurogroup, after the surplus has been confirmed by Eurostat.
As for primary residence auctions, Mr. Stournaras hinted towards a reduction of the degree of protection and spoke of a transition period, the introduction of income criteria and the concept of the “compliant borrower”. Mr. Stournaras believed that a complete ban and lift on primary residence auctions are “equally bad solutions”.
Despite the troika wishes, Mr. Stournaras claimed that Greek defense industry EAS will remain open and mostly focus on exports. While the Minster denied rumors that Greece will introduce mass layoffs, he claimed that Greece is only country were the Labor Minister can veto mass layoffs and that Mr. Vroutsis is waiting to be informed by the international labor office on the best practices.
When told that real estate taxes have increased by eight times since 2009, the Minister controversially called the real estate tax “the fairest tax” and “refused to accept that Greece is being overtaxed”, while adding that “businesses paid little tax, now they will pay normal”.
