According to a senior Ministry of Finances officer, the controversial real estate tax bill will be submitted in Parliament today and the government will come to a deal with the troika by next week on the restructuring of EAS, as well as the controversial primary residence auctions band.
The anonymous officer explained that the troika heads will leave Athens next week, by which point all the necessary prior actions will be complete, thus paving the way to collect the one-billion-euro loan installment that Greece is owed from July. The government intends to use toe loan installment to pay off 1.85 billion euros worth of bonds which mature on the 11th of January.
The overdue loan installment will be approved either by the Euro Working Group or the Eurogroup during an emergency meeting, during the upcoming discussion on the unification of banks. Obviously there are a number of unresolved issues, such as the 2014 budget gap, but these relate to the 4.9 billion euro loan installment that Greece is to collect next year, when the troika returns.
